Lyric， Language， Culture①

Lyric， Language， Culture①

1.0 Preface

One of themost striking changes in the critical scene in recent years is the decline in the importance of lyric poetry.Poetry was once central to literary experience and the consideration of the nature of lyric or of poetic languagewas once central to critical theory.However，poetry is not central to theory these days，nor to literary education，at least not in the English and Francophone world.In US universities these dayswe getmany students studying English or foreign literatureswho claim that they don't like poetry，or don't get it，so they tend to enroll in courses that focus on the novel or on cultural studies.Since students tend to avoid poetry，as something unfamiliar and unfriendly，literature departments，in their quest to gain more students，make poetry less central to their programs.But if the study of poetry is no longer at the heartof literary study，that has dire consequences，for close attention to language and to artifice are no longer central，and thematic and ideological concerns encounter little resistance as they take over.And once themes are all that count，why not studymovies and TV programs rather than literature，which requires reading，attention to language，rather than viewing or scanning?

What has happened in literary studies is paralleled by the developments in language study that have vastly reduced the role played by the reading of literature.The communicative approach to language learning stresses real world exchanges;and the interactive view，seeing language as a vehicle for the creation and maintenance of social relations，focusing on patterns ofmoves，acts，negotiation and interaction found in conversational exchanges，has little place for written texts emerging from what is seen as amarginal social practice.Now Iam not proposing that we revert to the old days，when foreign language students focused on literature:translating itand basically studying living languages the same way one studied Latin，for example，but Ido think something important is lostwhen the reading of poetry is eliminated from foreign language instruction，in the name of communication or social interaction.That ismy subject here.

2.0 Lyrics and Language Learning

First of all，some of themost salient characteristics of lyrics，their brevity and memorability，are very relevant to the process of language learning.In a wonderful little aphoristic work，“Che cos'èla poesia?，”［What is Poetry?］，a textwritten in response to this question from an Italian journal，Jacques Derrida approaches poetry aswhat strives to bememorable，to live in memory:“Apprends-moi par coeur，dit le poème.”The poem addresses you-“je suis une dictée，prononce la poésie，apprends-moi par coeur，recopie，veille，et gardemoi”［Iam a dictation，says poetry.Learnme by heart，copy out，watch over and preserveme.］(Derrida，1991:222-3)Asmemorable language，lyrics seek to be taken in，cathected-that is，emotionally invested，as a piece of otherness that can become part of you，available for responding to or thinking about experience-not only，Derrida says，“ce qu'on apprend par coeur，”but“ce qui apprend le coeur.”［not only what one learns by heart but what teaches the heart］.Poetry in western culture has taught us the heart，taught us what is the heart.La Rochefoucauld declared that no onewould fall in lovewith it if they had not read about it，and certainly poems of tragic love，of impossible or disappointed passion，are central to our cultures.When we hear“Puedo escribir los versosmás tristes esta noche”［I can write the saddest verses tonight］，we know they will be about the heart.

….

Puedo escribir los versosmás tristes esta noche

Pensar que no la tengo.Sentir que la he perdido

＊＊＊

Como para acercarlamimirada la busca

Mi corazón la busca，y ella no estáconmigo.

＊＊＊

Es tan corto el amor，y es tan largo el olvido.②

Lyrics offer memorable language，asking that we repeat them，and may help engage learners in or with a language:as the language invests them，inscribes its formulations in mechanicalmemory，learnersmay become invested in the language，in rhythms they repeat as they repeat poems.In the process of learning a mother tongue，speech rhythms come first，before semantics，and while one cannot reproduce for second language learners the situation of learning a first language，one may in some small part simulate the condition of the child with poetic rhythms，nursery rhymes，simp le lyrics.Derek Attridge，a British critic and metrical theorist，notes that even young children whomay have trouble with the pronunciation ofwords can easily get themeter right for English nursery rhymes.(It helps，of course，that nursery rhymes are isochronic，with a regular chanted beat.)“There is nothing remarkable，therefore，about a two-year-old chanting the following rhyme with perfect metrical p lacing of the syllables，”

Stár líght stár brígh t，

The fír st stár I sée to níght，

I wísh I máy，I wísh I mígh t，

Háve the wísh I wísh to nígh t.

even though this requires“knowing”-I put the word in quotation marks-that each word in the first line takes a stress，whereas in the third line only every second word is stressed.It is upon this edifice of shared ability，a rhythmic competence，that is built the whole English poetic tradition.The four-by-four formation，four groups of four beats，is in English“the basis of most modern popular music，including rock and rap，of most folk，broadside，and industrial ballads from the midd le ages to the 20 th century，ofmost hymns，most nursery rhymes，and a great deal of printed poetry.”(Attridge，1995:43，53-4)

One can very early learn simp le verses in a foreign language，even if some of the words and constructions remain opaque，and this lays a foundation for cultural competence thatwill extend beyond lyrics themselves to the tradition of song，including rap and popularmusic-a topic to which Iwill return.One can easily learn simp le verses that are far more significant accomplishments of the language than the bits of communicative or phatic dialogue that are central to the interactive approach:“Bonjour monsieur，comment allez-vous?Très bien merci，et vous?Ah，très bien，et votre mère，elle se porte toujours bien?”One could instead recite:

Les sanglots longs The long sobs

Des violons Of the violins

De l'automne Of Autumn

Blessentmon cœur Wound my heart

D'une langueur W ith a monotonous

Monotone.(Verlaine，1969:39) Languor.

Less usefulwhen encountering a Frenchman，perhaps，but perhapsmore likely to get one interested in the language.Letme remark，parenthetically，on the cultural significance of Verlaine's poem，which is not only taken to exemplify the musicality of the French language but was used during World War II to signal to French resistance forces that the Normandy invasion was imm inent:when transm itted on a BBC broadcast“Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne”meant that the landing would come in 2 weeks，and then“blessentmon coeur d'une langeur monotone，”meant it would come in 48 hours.The combination of memorability and the primacy of sound makes these phrases a good code— words that could not get spoken accidentally by an announcer when talking about something else.

There are vast numbers of poems，less historically significant，with relatively simple vocabulary and syntax that m ight engage students'attention and seem sufficiently exotic that they would make attractive additions to theirmental repertoire.I recall when Iwas learning German being quite taken by a little poem from Bertold Brecht's“A lfabet”of 1934.

Reicher Mann und armer Mann Rich man and poor man

Standen da und sahn sich an. stood there and looked at each other

Und der Arme sagte bleich: and the poor man blank ly said:

Wäre ich nicht arm，wärst du nicht reich.(Brecht，1965:62) ‘Were I not poor，you were not rich.'

This ismemorable and pretty straightforward.It is also of interest in that it gives a learner recondite verb forms，the imperfect subjunctives ich wäre and du wärst，used for contrary fact conditionals.Even if one is a beginner with no interest in learning the imperfect subjective，a quatrain like this provides a really efficientway storing in memory versions of this strange tense in case one ever advances to it.It is neat to have something at once so simp le and so comp licated in one's head.

English is rich in simple poems that a relative beginner can successfully take in.For instance，Robert Frost's“Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”:

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some m istake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely，dark and deep.

But I have prom ises to keep，

And m iles to go before I sleep，

And m iles to go before I sleep.(Frost，1969:224)

“Stopping by Woods”wonderfully illustrates the stress patterns of English，which is an accentual language，and the four-by-four verse so common to its cultural products，but is also culturally significant in a differentway.It is a poem that for North Americans offers an importantmythical image-made especially attractive as the cold ofwinter is elided by“the sweep/Of easy wind and downy flake，”a splendid line.This image of New England woods in the snow，with sleighs and a horse with bells on his harness is something few of usmay have ever seen butmany of us regard as quite normal，the imagined furniture of the world.Themythic association of snow with sleep and death is something not shared by all cultures，though more widespread is the contrast between the world of practical affairs，here interestingly represented by the horse said to think stopping in the woods is queer，and a silent natural world taken to be more elemental.Where does the human speaker most belong?

But I don't think that simp le vocabulary and syntax is necessary for poems-after all，all over the world young people acquire a good deal of English by repeating the lyrics of pop songs，which may be obscure and complicated.(They can also be very simp le，of course:“She loves you，yeah，yeah，yeah!”)Failure to understand them or even to identify the words exactly is historically no obstacle to pleasure and cathexis.In fact，successful language learners are those who develop a taste for new words，strange formulations，who can cope with not understanding everything but learn to repeat.Iwould love for students to experience the eerie fascination of the resonant but perplexing juxtapositions and odd vocabulary of poems like W.H.Auden's“The Fall of Rome，”which is almost nonsense verse，a series of disconnected images，vaguely decadent or sinister，but above all strange.

The Fall of Rome

The piers are pummeled by the waves;

In a lonely field the rain

Lashes an abandoned train;

Outlaws fill the mountain caves.

Fantastic grow the evening gowns;

Agents of the Fisc pursue

Absconding tax-defaulters through

The sewers of provincial towns.

Private rites ofmagic send

The temp le prostitutes to sleep;

A ll the literati keep

An imaginary friend.

Cerebrotonic③Cato may

Extol the Ancient Disciplines，

But the muscle-bound Marines

Mutiny for food and pay.

Caesar's double bed is warm

As an unimportant clerk

W rites IDO NOT LIKE MY WORK

On a pink official form.

Unendowed with wealth or pity，

Little birds with scarlet legs，

Sitting on their speck led eggs，

Eye each flu-infested city.

A ltogether elsewhere，vast

Herds of reindeer move across

Miles and m iles of golden moss，

Silently and very fast.(Auden，2007:188)

Here are weird images，like the little birds“unendowed with wealth or pity”(who would expect wealthy birds!).“Altogether elsewhere”ismarvelous，and Iwould like students of English to recall reindeer moving“silently and very fast，”over“miles and m iles of golden moss.”But it is hard to exp lain the appeal of these lines.There is a hint of the mathematical sublime，with the unmasterable natural image— vast herds，m iles and m iles of golden moss—where you m ight expect a reference to barbarian hordes，so that the indifference of those reindeer moving silently and very fastmakes them an unmasterable reality，— the antithesis of decadence-evocative of a larger framework thatmakes civilization in its decline seem trivial and not just sinister.In cases like this I recallWallace Stevens'dictum:“A poem must resist the intelligence，/Almost successfully.”(Stevens，1955:350)That resistance helps produce the power and fascination of poetry.

It is hard to know how to balance the attractions of the puzzling and exotic，on the one hand，and that of the simpler yet highly resonant，on the other.My basic suggestion here is that the communicative or interactive approach to language learning is not necessarily a winning one.Certainly in the United States，it has become harder to make a compelling argument to students on communicative grounds，claiming that“you need to take more years of French or German or Spanish in order to be able to communicate with peop le in that language.”The reluctant prospective student is likely to reply，“well，Iwas in France(or Costa Rica or Serbia)last year，and lots of the people I encountered spoke English，so that I didn't have trouble getting along.”Now I recognize the asymmetry of the world linguistic situation:the communicational argumentmay be determ inative for speakers of other languages who need to learn English，but it seems not to be working very well for English speakers.Nor is the interactive model an easy sell，since unless one attains really remarkable fluency，one will always be interacting awkward ly as a foreigner who does not have the intuitions and reactions of a native speaker.Iwould also mention that from the point of view of the interactions that are most likely to be important for young people-namely，encounters that m ight lead to an amorous relationship—a large dose of foreignness has never been an obstacle but has usually been an added attraction— the cute accent，the adorable linguistic mistakes，the need for assistance，the awkwardness that you can help to overcome-all are stimuli to amorous encounters and undercut the idea that the goal of interacting like a native is a necessary one.Increasingly，what seems necessary for sustained foreign language learning is an actual fascination with some aspect of the language，—I have spoken of“cathecting”the language-investing emotional energy in the language or becoming emotionally invested in it.This can come from films，from popular music-from anything thatmakes you want more of that language-but can also come from poetry.A line like“Dolce color d'oriental zaffiro...”from the beginning of Dante's Purgatorio m ight spark a desire to learn Italian.

Lyric poems have the virtue of being short，so you can take the whole in quickly，all at once，can reread them，recite them，even learn them by heart，deliberately or by dint of rereading that will lead some of their lines to stick in your m ind and make you want to learn the other lines.You don't need to understand all the words-I knew that little quatrain of Brecht's for years withoutworrying about the precisemeaning of“bleich”-“Und der Arme sagte bleich.”［And the poorman says….］.Having learned itmeans“deathly pale”or“wan，”I ignore the meaning，since bleich is there for the rhyme.I am not greatly interested in studying Spanish phrase books to learn how to ask the way to the hospital or how to change money，but Iwould like to be able to recite

La princesa estátriste..Quétendrála princesa?

Los suspiros se escapan de su boca de fresa，

［The princess is sad.What ails the princess?

The sighs escape from her strawberry mouth］

without sounding as if Iwere speaking Italian with a lisp.But since Rubén Darío's“Sonatina，”with its sentimental ending，is less to my tastes than the mystery of some other famous poems，something like Lorca's“La Luna Asoma”ismore likely to lure me into Spanish:

Cuando sale la luna

se pierden las campanas

y aparecen las sendas

impenetrables.

Cuando sale la luna，

elmar cubre la tierra

y el corazón se siente isla en el infinito.

Nadie come naranjas

bajo la luna llena.

Es preciso comer，

fruta verde y helada.

Cuando sale la luna

de cien rostros iguales，

la moneda de p lata

solloza en el bolsillo.④

This is another poem that teaches the heart.Here，I am very taken by the confident positing of a cultural norm in the third stanza:it is right to eat“fruta verde y helada”rather than oranges when there is a fullmoon.I hope this is indeed the norm in some Hispanophone societies.

Especially important for me is the fact that poems initiate students into a different relation to language，where it is not something supposed ly transparent but manifestly opaque and haunting.They introduce the possibility of possession by language，fascination with it，as something to explore，to live with and live in.Poems are not an exchange of information but forms ritualistically available for repetition，musing，and indirect use in various contexts.Quoting a line or lines from a poem is not just an act of communicating but also an act of situating oneself in a culture as one takes up its fragments.If lovers quote lines of poems or of songs to each other，it is not because the verses formulate the speaker's thoughtmore precisely or aptly than the speaker him-or herself，but because these emotions or affects are thoroughly cultural—even to say“I love you”is something of a quotation—and lines from a poem or a song provide a cultural objectification，a participation in something larger than yourself，a process，a heritage.

It is important that lyrics are not just the expression of a poetic subject's personal affect-though poems often suggest that this is what they do:

Yo soy un hombre sincero

De donde crece la palma，

Y antes de morirme quiero

Echar m is versos del alma.⑤

JoséMarti's opening stanza evokes a poetry of the heart:“I am a sincere man/from where the palm tree grows;/ and before I die Iwant/to loosemy verses from my heart.”But this long poem by the Cuban poet and patriot is a-bove all a communal statement，a work of rich cultural significance which evokes Cuban resistance to Spanish oppression and furnished words for Cuba's national song，“Guantanamera.”Indeed，the expressive theory of the lyric of the Romantic era seems increasingly inadequate，not even apt for the poems of the age to which it supposed ly especially applied，and certainly not to others:the whole Petrarchan tradition，for example，is less one of expression of a personal emotion than an exp loration of rhetorical possibilities of affect.And of course much 20th century verse sought explicitly to escape the expressive model.But neither should lyric be treated as the fictional im itation of a real world speech act-the model which currently dom inates lyric pedagogy in the US—in which we posit a speaker-character whose situation and motives for utterance readers are supposed to reconstruct.I could saymore about the inadequacy of thesemodels of lyric，which distract attention from everything that ismost distinctive of lyric—ritualistic rhythms，formal structures，indirect address，intertextual relations— but fortunately，neither model need arise in the context of language teaching，where the lyric is above all a sp lendid，engaging instance of the language.

Imentioned earlier that many students today say they don't like poetry or are not interested in poetry，but since young children still respond eagerly to rhyme and rhythm，I think in teaching poetry wemust have been doing something w rong to produce dislike，and Iam inclined to blame interpretation—the presumption in schools and universities that what you are supposed to do with poems is not to recite them or memorize them but to interpret them，teasing out meanings.We do not behave this way with pop songs— we m ight occasionally argue with a friend about what a line means but usually we argue about whether it is a good song or not— and peop le become connoisseurs of their music without spending any time on interpretation.Moreover，students manifestly do respond to rap and other forms with intense verbal patterning，which might provide links back to lyrics of the poetic tradition.In songs，as in examples in linguistic exercises，language is determ ined by something other than the communicative intentions of a speaker—for instance，by rhyme as a generative device.Listening to Bob Dylan the other day，I imagined the linguistic exercise of trying to continue one of his songs，by continuing to repeat the rhyme.Consider“Subterranean Homesick Blues，”for instance.Many people know themost famous lines from this historic song:“You don't need a weatherman/To know which way the wind blows.”Here are two sequences:

Look out kid

Don'tmatter what you did

Walk on your tip toes

Don't try no doz

Better stay away from those

That carry around a fire hose

［x］Keep a clean nose

［x］Watch the p lain clothes

You don't need a weather man

To know which way the wind blows

and again

Look out kid

They keep it all hid

Better jump down a manhole

Light yourself a candle

Don't wear sandals

Try to avoid the scandals

［x］Don't wanna be a bum

［x］You better chew gum

The pump don't work

'cause the vandals took the handles.⑥The rhymed poem，as it turns on itself，bespeaks a strange order that surprises us，a manifestation of an order in and of language other than that of meaning，the manifestation of a system that is not that of human meanings.Rhyme as a device generatingmeanings gives a sense that all this fits together somehow，that there is a relation between the hand les taken by vandals and abjuring your sandals and scandals.But above all this is language made memorable by the rhythms and poetic form.

The unexpected rise of rap，a form of heavily rhythm ical language that relies on rhythm and imagery，and its enormous persisting popularity among the young of all social strata，suggests a hunger for rhythm ic language that m ight find some satisfaction in lyric，if poems were conceived and presented differently.The fact that in rap rhythmic language could to some extent rep lacemelodic language in the affections of the young seems tome a sign of the profound appeal of rhythm ically-patterned language—and perhaps amonitory lesson formodern poetry that in English at least，has frequently abandoned themore explicit forms of linguistic patterning，includingmeter and vigorous rhythm.A greater foregrounding of rhythm as central to lyric m ight enable the teaching of poetry to regain some of the ground lost in recent years and also might lead to a different sort of poetics.One could thus imagine an approach more connected with evaluation，which has not been central to literary studies recently:whatworks and what doesn't?What engages our attention，our corps de jouissance［ecstatic body］— to use Roland Barthes'term—and what does not?

3.0 Cultural Function of Lyrics and Language Learning

But Ihave somewhat slighted the third term ofmy title，“culture.”Of course poems are culture，but formuch language teaching today they are deemed less important culturally than chop sticks.I do think，though that in addition to their undoubted role in the culture of the past，they have in many cultures an important function in the present—in what even themost present-m inded language teachers would regard as the culture.I have argued that poems are better than most things one m ight learn as way to cathect a foreign culture，to come to have some stake in it.But poems that become important to the national imaginary also convey something about the culture，as Imentioned when discussing“Stopping by Woods”and JoséMartí's“Yo son uin hombre sincere.”The case of Rubén Darío's“Sonatina”seems to me a very interesting one.I understand this is very resonant and evocative for many speakers of Spanish，who may have learned it by heart in school.To outsiders it seems sentimental:the beautiful princess trapped in a golden cage of her privilege，but who，the fairy godmother promises at the end，will be rescued by a knightwho has conquered death.What it is about this poem that gives it an important cultural function?

La princesa estátriste... Quétendrála princesa?

Los suspiros se escapan de su boca de fresa，

que ha perdido la risa，que ha perdido el color.

La princesa estápálida en su silla de oro，

estámudo el teclado de su clave sonoro，

y en un vaso，olvidada，se desmaya una flor.⑦

More seductive than the fairy story of princess and knightmay be the resonant images of aspiration to freedom: Ay!，la pobre princesa de la boca de rosa

quiere ser golondrina，quiere ser mariposa，

tener alas ligeras，bajo el cielo volar;

ir al sol por la escala luminosa de un rayo，

saludar a los lirios con los versos de mayo

o perderse en el viento sobre el trueno delmar.

The poem ends with the godmother's promise and the image of the prince who will go galloping to the rescueon his charger:

-“Calla，calla，princesa-dice el hada madrina-;

en caballo，con alas，hacia acáse encam ina，

en el cinto la espada y en la mano el azor，

el feliz caballero que te adora sin verte，

y que llega de lejos，vencedor de la Muerte，

a encenderte los labios con un beso de amor”.⑧

What is the cultural role of thismyth of the kiss of the knight，conqueror of death?Or does the resonance of the poem depend less on this prom ised rescue than on the image of princess imprisoned in her privilege，wishing she could fly away as a golondrina ormariposa-with the poem itself as both a golden cage and an appeal to everything that lies beyond?

Letme in conclusion consider a poem where I can say something about its cultural significance:Du Bellay's“Heureux qui comme Ulysse.”This 16thcentury sonnet about nostalgia for one's native land has had a remarkable fortune in French culture，as it became one of themost frequently memorized poems in the French canon—an examp le of the way in which particular poemsmay quite unexpectedly take on a powerful cultural function.

Heureux qui，comme Ulysse，a fait un beau voyage， Happy the man who，journeying far and wide

Ou comme cestuy-làqui conquit la toison， As Jason or Ulysses did，can then

Et puis est retourné，p lein d'usage et raison， Turn homeward，seasoned in the ways ofmen，

Vivre entre ses parents le reste de sonâge! To live life out，among his own again!

Quand reverrai-je，hélas，de mon petit village When shall I see the chimney-smoke divide

Fumer la chem inée，et en quelle saison The sky above my little town:ah，when

Reverrai-je le clos de ma pauvre maison， Stroll the small gardens of that house again，

Quim'est une province，et beaucoup davantage? Which ismy realm and crown，and more beside?

Plusme plaît le séjour qu'ont bâtimes aïeux， Better I love the plain，secluded home

Que des palais Romains le front audacieux， My fathers built，than bold fa?ades of Rome;

Plus que le marbre dur me p laît l'ardoise fine Slate p leasesme asmarble cannot do，

Plusmon Loire gaulois，que le Tibre latin; Better than Tiber's flood my quiet Loire，

Plusmon petit Liré，que le mont Palatin Those little hills than these，and dearer far，

Et plus que l'air marin la doulceur angevine. Than great sea winds the zephyrs of Anjou.

(DuBella，1966:98)

This is in effect a poem of choice of life as well as nostalgia.In a way that seems particularly characteristic of French culture，it performs the powerful ideological operation of presenting attachment to the nation and imp licitly to the primacy of French culture as attachment to landscape，to the countryside，which is figured as home for even the most cosmopolitan-for Du Bellay，living in Rome，and for later generations of Parisians.As such，one critic writes，“itmay well function as France's most powerful political poem of all.”(Shaw，2003:111)And it may help foreign students of French，whomay have no idea what the landscape of Anjou looks like，to form similar if attenuated attachments，as theirmental equipment incorporates the notion of that themodest French countryside is in princip le preferable even to the proud Roman metropolis.Penser ainsi，c'est devenir un peu français.

I have sought to exp lain why I think the use of lyric can be a way of encouraging students of language to become invested in the language，not as a utilitarian tool but as rich verbal surroundings of real cultural weight.This will be possible，I think，only if we treat poems as we treat popularmusic，as something to be valued，repeated，imitated，but not necessarily interpreted.Educational and philosophical tradition，since Plato at least，distinguishesgood memory from so-called bad memory，Erinnerung from Gedächtnis，the memory of understanding and assim ilation from the memory ofmerely mechanical or rote repetition.On the one hand there is what you have made your own and can reformulate;on the other what you repeat，parrot-like，as something foreign that has become lodged in your m ind，a piece of otherness.Novels belong on the side of Erinnerung— as writing you assim ilate;if you remember a novel you recall，in your own words，as we say，what happens;but poems go with Gedächtnis:to remember them at all is to remember some of their words，isolated phrases，perhaps，which stick in your memory，you don't know why.The power to lodge bits of their language in yourmind，to invade and occupy it，is a salient feature of lyrics，amajor aspect of their being.Poems seek to inscribe themselves in mechanicalmemory，ask to be learned by heart，taken in，introjected or housed as bits of alterity which can be repeated，considered，treasured or ironically cited.

I think students of every language need to have bits of language stick in their heads:—learning a foreign language involves themechanical storage of formulations that incarnate foreignness，and it is better，Iwould argue，for this to be memorable formulations of poems than scraps of dialogue about how to get to the Prado.W illy-nilly，pop songs will lodge in our students'm inds;there ought to be some poems there as competition for song lyrics and instantiation of the resources of the languages in which we dwell.

Notes:

① This paper began as a plenary lecture for a conference on the teaching of foreign languages and literature at the University of Costa Rica in Dec.2012.I am grateful to Gilda Pacheco Acuña and her colleagues for the invitation and their hospitality.

② See Neruda(2006)，Poema 20:

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

To think that I do not have her.To feel that I have lost her.

＊＊＊

My sight tries to find her，as though to bring her closer

My heart looks for her，and she is not with me.

"＊＊＊

Love is so short，forgetting is so long.

③Of a shy and intellectual nature

④See Lorca(1982)，“Cuando sale la luna”: When the moon rises The bells die away And impenetrable Paths come to the fore.

When the moon rises

Water covers land

And the heart feels itself

An island in infinity.

No one eats oranges

Under the fullmoon.

It is right to eat

Green，chilled fruit.

When the moon rises

W ith a hundred faces all the same，

Coins of silver

Start sobbing in the pocket.

⑤See Marti(1891)，“Yo son un hombre sincere.”This long poem by the Cuban poet and patriot，a work of rich cultural significance which evokes Cuban resistance to Spanish oppression，furnished words for Cuba's national song，“Guantanamera.”

⑥［x］marks a silent beat.See Bob Dylan(1978).

Lyrics at http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/subterranean-homesick-blues.

⑦See Reuben Dario(2001:118-123):

The princess is sad...What is wrong with the princess?

her sighs are escaping from her strawberry mouth，

which has lost all its laughter，which has lost all its color.

The princess is pale on her golden divan，

the keyboard ismute on her resonant harpsichord;

And a flower，forgotten，has swooned in a vase.

⑧Alas!The poor princess with the rose-colored mouth

Would rather a swallow or a butterfly be，

And under the heavens would fly on light wings，

Would rise to the sun on the luminous ladder of beams，

Would greet every lily with the verse of May，

Or be lost in the wind on the boom of the sea.

＊＊＊＊＊

“Hush now，hush now princess.”Says the fairy god mother，

“On a horse with great wings，he is coming for you，

W ith a sword in his belt and a hawk on his arm，

The goodly knight who adores you unseen，

And who comes from afar，having overcome Death，

To light up your lips with the kiss of true love.”(Trans.Arcereda and Derusha)

Bibliography

［1］Attridge，Derek.Poetic Rhythm:An Introduction［M］.Cambridge:Cambridge UP，1995.

［2］Auden，W.H.Selected Poems［M］.New York:Vintage，2007.

［3］Brecht，Bertold.Ein Kinderbuch［M］.Berlin:Kinderbuchverlag，1965.

［4］Dario，Reuben.Selected Poems of Rubén Darío［M］.Alberto Acereda(ed.).Lewisburg，Pa.:Bucknell U Press，2001.

［5］Derrida，Jacques.Che cos'èla poesia?［A］.In Peggy Kamuf(ed.)Between the Blinds:A Derrida Reader［C］.New York:Columbia UP，1991.

［6］DuBellay，Joachim.Les Regrets Et Autres Oeuvres Poetiques［M］.Richard W ilbur(trans).Geneva:Librairie Droz，1966.

［7］Dylan，Bob.Bringing It All Back Home［M］.Columbia，1978.

［8］Frost，Robert.The Poetry of Robert Frost［M］.Robert Latham(ed.)New York:Holt，1969.

［9］Lorca，Federico García.Canciones［M］.Madrid:Alianza，1982.

［10］Marti，José.Versos Sencillos(1891)［M］.Houston:Arte Público Press，1997.

［11］Neruda，Pablo.Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair［M］.W.S.Merwin(trans).New York:Penguin Books，2006.

［12］Shaw，Mary Lewis.Cambridge Introduction to French Poetry［M］.Cambridge:Cambridge UP，2003.

［13］Stevens，Wallace.Collected Poems［M］.London:Faber，1955.

［14］Verlaine，Paul.Oeuvres poétiques［M］.Paris:Garnier，1969.

Jonathan Culler

(Departments of English and Comparative Literature Cornell University，Cornell University Ithaca，NY 14853-3201)

Lyric poetry is not central to literary education these days，nor to language teaching and language learning.However something important is lostwhen the reading of poetry is eliminated from foreign language instruction，in the name of communication or social interaction.In fact，some of the most salient characteristics of lyrics，their brevity and memorability as well as their cultural connotations are very relevant to the process of language learning.

lyrics;culture;language;language learning;language teaching

I106

A

1002-2643(2014)03-0068-11

2014-03-10

Jonathan Culler，Class of 1916 Professor of English/Comparative Literature.Research and teaching interests:Literary theory，19th century French literature，English poetry and theory of the lyric.