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In this article, the authors consider how to use poetry to develop empathy for asylum seekers among their students in Malta, where asylum seeking is a present and divisive issue.
One of the most fundamental results that could be hoped for out of the education of young people is their ability to manifest empathy. In 1909, the psychologist Edward Titchener introduced the term empathy into English as a translation of the German word Einfühlung (Stueber). R. H. Fogle and J. Barnouw explain that "Empathy is usually defined as a projection of oneself into the other or identification with the other, but the term, in fact, has referred to many divergent phenomena in both psychology and aesthetics" (408; italics in original). Despite this complication, for the purposes of this article we are going to rely on Claudio Rud's definition of empathy as "a form of mutual grasp of the experiential reality of the other and of our own" (163). Anthony M. Clohesy argues that "empathy can make us more receptive to the transformative power of Art, which, in return, can make us more empathically attuned to the lives of others" (63). This kind of attunement is necessary as it allows people to embrace diversity. Peter F. Schmid posits that "To be empathic means building a bridge to an unknown land. Empathy bridges the gap between differences, between persons- without removing the gap, without ignoring the differences" (65). Empathy is thus a means of cognitively and emotionally understanding the experiences undergone by the other while engaging in self-awareness.
Poetry is an excellent vehicle for consolidating empathy. Geri Giebel Chavis believes that "poems form noteworthy juxtapositions between the readers' world and the world created within the literary work" (165). According to Todd O. Williams, "Poetry offers students the opportunity to increase their self-awareness by helping them examine their experiences in terms of emotions and mental images as well as language" (17). By developing empathic understanding through the reading of poetry in the classroom, students "begin to see themselves and others, and themselves through others in a safe environment" (Williams 20). It seems that the effective harnessing of poetry in the education of young people can help them develop into empathic men and women.
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