Abstract

What did Shelley’s and Eliot’s theories of poetics have in common? The new science of mirror neurons (widely discussed in relation to autism) has profound implications for understanding what could be called “A Mirror Neuron Effect” in response to poetry. Both Eliot and Shelley presaged what cognitive science is revealing about the biology of the aesthetic experience in relation to poetry and this will be examined as well as illustrated through contemporary poets such as Yusef Komunyakaa and James Wright. How do poets achieve this effect, and what are the implications for literature in general both vis a vis critical lenses and from the writer’s craft perspective.