‘Dissecting butterflies’ : literary theory and poetry teaching in post-16 education

Abstract

This paper discusses the role of literary theory within the teaching of poetry by focusing on post-16 education in Malta as a case study. Literary theory was meant to lead to a rethinking of the way poetry is approached in the A-level English classroom, but this failed to really come about due to the fact that it has not been adopted by syllabus developers and teachers. This paper explores the reasons for such reluctance by analysing the views of teachers and an examiner. It shows how a sense of unease with students’ and teachers’ ability to exploit literary theory in the poetry lesson seems to be one of the main factors behind its continued absence.