Spirituality,Morality and Poetry

This paper illustrates how poetry can play a major role in facilitating adolescents' spiritual and moral development. Examples are given of adolescents' responses to poems, when the pedagogy they experienced was influenced by reader response theory, to illustrate the seminal value of this genre and teaching methodology in fostering spiritual and moral reflection and growth. The link between poetry, spirituality and morality is examined with reference to writers in the field of literature. Finally, selected findings from a 3-year longitudinal case study of readers' responses to poems are reported to illustrate conclusions drawn concerning the value of poetry in the education of the whole person.