Poetic forms: a comparative analysis of the preference advanced english language and literature students at Universidad de Cuenca have regarding formal and free verse, complemented with general syllabus guidelines for a potential poetry workshop

Abstract

Poetry should be seen as a basic element in the curriculum of English Literature majors. However, this is not the case at the English Language and Literature School at Universidad de Cuenca. This circumstance can be connected to empirical beliefs related to students' attitude towards poetry, rather than to objective data on the subject. By applying a survey among ninety students of the three groups of the eighth level of the school, this project attempted to establish the preference these students have on poetic forms; this information was used to develop general syllabus guidelines for a potential poetry workshop. The analysis of the obtained data revealed a high level of neutrality between free and formal verse preference. Moreover, a noticeable desire to incorporate writing processes to the study of poetry was also found. For these reasons, the syllabus guidelines which are presented in this project correspond to a poetry workshop in which the study of both formal and free verse is covered, having special emphasis on providing the students with opportunities for self-expression.