Modern Dialect Poetry: Its Place in the Classroom

Abstract

While pedagogues in German-speaking countries are still at pains to banish the use of dialect and regional language forms from the classroom, poetry in dialect has asserted itself as a cultural phenomenon of some importance and has staked a legitimate claim to a place in courses of instruction in those countries where modern German language, literature, and culture represent an academic discipline.' The need for serious attention to this subject arises from the increased production (and reception) of dialect writingespecially in the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland-during the past twenty-five years, the very different role of much of this writing as compared with traditional Mundartdichtung, the high literary quality of a large part of this poetry, and the political impact of its more effective examples.2 One can justifiably speak of a of modern German dialect poetry. The following pages outline the characteristics of that movement and the ways in which treatment of it can be incorporated into our instructional programs.3