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Can CDA be applied to poetry?

Critical Discourse Analysis is the study of language either verbal or nonverbal. It deals with the understanding of meaning hidden in the utterances. Teachers, Linguists, and professionals apply various tools of CDA for the analysis of language. Can such tools be applied for the analysis of poetic language? SHEERAZ ALI

RESPONSE BY MARK GOVIER

I would not deny that persons in non maths-science academia derive satisfaction in concocting and applying various analytical systems that allegedly 'decipher' fiction works - such systems, however, do not generally explain why people read poetry or fiction.

I appreciate some in English departments do wish to use their brains in a more complex manner, and would suggest a course in Pure Maths, Applied Maths or similar science subjects, could provide them with this.

The problem, as I see it, is when such analytical systems are picked up by artistically mediocre students in English departments, who, once armed with their PhD or whatever, seek to impose these systems on the rest of us.

Mark