Multicultural Moments in Poetry: The Importance of the Unique

Abstract

This paper argues for the importance of poetry for the field of applied linguistics. The central argument of the article is that poetry is a discourse constructed around the epistemological principle of the unique that provides its readers with specific insights into individualized, personal human experience and linguistic expression. Poetry has particular value in promoting multiculturalism and the understanding of human diversity and can provide moments of contact among individuals living in diverse communities. For applied linguistics, a multi-generic approach is proposed in which all modes of communication and research need to be employed in order to contend with the major issue of human diversity in conservative social systems that promote unity as an ideal and function through the racist inability to differentiate between the group and the individual member of the collective. As argued in this paper, poetry can provide a counterweight to the desire to collectivize and generalize and remind us of the value of the humanly individual life.