Going Beyond the Demonstrable Range in Educational Scholarship: Exploring the Intersections of Poetry and Research

Abstract

This essay reflects on experimental writing that incorporates poetry into research. The author supports the move toward research writing that breaks the constraints of traditional academic writing, but raises the concern that such writing must not casually adopt the form and name of poetry without studying the craft. Along these lines, she suggests that in order for work that introduces poetry into research to be done effectively, researchers must study the craft of writing poetry as critically as they study the craft of writing research. Finally, the author suggests that instead of attempting to map poetry onto research, researchers may be better served by borrowing from the poetic to more accurately define the goals, quality, and purpose of experimental writing. In this way, researchers may learn from poetry to further enhance their own critical art.