Abstract
This article is the second in a series of works on the methodology of teaching literary (poetic) creativity at university and school. The subject of the article is the question of the purpose of poetry and approaches to its teaching in the classroom. Over the millennia of poetry's existence, poets and scientists have developed many points of view on this question, often mutually exclusive such as: 1) poetry is the voice of God and harmony; 2) poetry is the voice of the devil and chaos; 3) poetry is consolation, «psychotherapy»; 4) poetry is the voice of the struggle that changes the world; 5) poetry is useless, meaningless, harmful; 6) poetry has no purposes on the outside. In the XIX century, the diversity of concepts largely boils down to the opposition of «art for art» and «utilitarianism». In the XX century, without canceling all these positions, «human-» and «linguocentric» ideas about the purpose of poetry begin to strengthen in the public consciousness. Poetry is declared the quintessence of the national language and literature; it is the poetry, albeit indirectly, forms national consciousness, transmits cultural experience and changes the lives of all members of society. Both poetic creativity and work on its perception «humanize» a person, forming his own essential characteristics – the desire to develop, the aspiration for the fullness of being, for self-knowledge. The poet acts as the guardian of the national language and cultural code and, if he can, improves them. In the XXI century, the question under consideration loses its former acuteness and exists only in professional communities of literary mеn.
Keywords
Literary (poetic) creativity, the purpose of poetry, popular versification, methods of teaching literature at school and university, teaching technologies.