Cognitive Poetry: Theoretical Framework for the Application of Cognitive Psychology Techniques to Poetic Text

Abstract

This article presents a theoretical framework for the author’s experimental work in contemporary poetry, which has received the term cognitive poetry. In contrast to cognitive poetics, which applies the principles of cognitive psychology to interpret poetic texts, cognitive poetry applies these principles to produce poetic texts. The theoretical considerations of cognitive poetry are based on the assumption that one of the major purposes of creative work is to elicit an aesthetical reaction in the beholder. The aesthetical reaction to poetic texts could be achieved via their satiation with multiple meanings presented through multiple sensory modalities. Cognitive poetry employs techniques developed in cognitive psychology to explicitly address cognitive processes underlying the construction of multiple conceptual planes. The following techniques are discussed: priming, the Stroop effect, multimodal and multilingual presentations. The applications of these techniques are illustrated with examples of poetic texts produced by the author.