The Critical Step

Extended feature: critical thinking

58 Creative Teaching & Learning n Volume 1.4

James MacGregor introduces the application of ‘the critical step’ to the interpretation of Rilke’s poem ‘The Bullfight’. He also explains how the critical step can be applied not just to Literature, but across the curriculum.

The critical step

‘Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.’ Rainer Maria Rilke (from his letters)

The most fundamental concept underlying all critical thinking is that of ‘the question’. When engaging critically with a text, it is necessary that pupils

approach it first and foremost with a questioning attitude. This is true for any form of critical textual encounter. What provides thought with a critical aspect is the emergence of ‘the question’. This is not to say that all forms of good reasoning explicitly involve asking questions. Most principles of reasoning and logical sequences do not, on the face of things, involve questions. However, the concept of ‘the question’ can be seen to form the basis of any form of good reasoning, in that looking for good reasons helps to answer questions such as ‘why?’ Why does the poem open the way it does? Why write poems at all? In this way questions form the basic drive and impetus to find reasons and as a result we can view ‘the question’ as being the very lifeblood of what it is to think critically.


59Volume 1.4 n Creative Teaching & Learning

What do you think would be the average attendance at a bullfight?How often do you think bullfights take place?What sort of jobs could be involved in the bullfighting industry?

Such general questioning encourages pupils to begin to think of bullfighting in a more reflective and considered way. General questioning such as this could also spark off further questioning and discussion. This general approach also leads neatly into slightly more structured group activities. These activities could also be question led. However, the questions should begin to become gradually more narrowly focused on particular aspects of the topic. This can be facilitated through encouraging pupils to begin to look for reasons. Thus questions can begin to take the form of:

Can you think of three reasons why someone might want to go along to watch a bullfight?Can you think of three reasons why someone would want to become a matador?Why might bullfighting be thought to be important?

Pupils can then be encouraged to test their initial thoughts, questions and predilections against forms of hard data on the subject through sources such as internet research and reference books. This type of investigation not only enables pupils to question their own assumptions but it can also lead to their questioning various sources of received wisdom. This can be the case if the hard data appears to contradict or sit in some way uneasily with pupils’ initial assumptions or even impressions.

PerspectivesThis very general approach involving questioning, as outlined, has the virtue of preparing pupils for more serious modes of enquiry involving weightier issues such

●

●

●

●

●

●

However, not all types of question lead to critical thinking. For example, after informing a class that the battle of Hastings was fought in 1066, the teacher might then ask a particular pupil when the battle of Hastings was fought. In this scenario, the pupil’s response would, in a very obvious sense, be in response to a question – ‘When was the battle of Hastings fought?’ Yet, in another important sense, the pupil would simply be repeating the information that she was asked, or told, to repeat. In this way, this form of questioning could be translated as a command. Whatever the merits of this form of questioning might be and whatever value can be attributed to, what Fisher (2008:101) refers to as, the ‘cognitive function’ of such questions, this type of questioning is not primarily involved in critical thinking. The form of questioning involved in critical thinking is the sort of questioning that examines, seeks or probes for reasons, justifications, explanations, elucidations etc. Critical thinking is thinking which initially gets behind or ‘under the skin’ of a given text. Subsequently, it may be convenient to refer to the process of questioning from which critical thinking emerges as the ‘critical step’. The ‘critical step’ captures what Siegel (1988) refers to as the ‘critical spirit’. The ‘critical step’ provides a concrete example of how a person can acquire attitudes and dispositions necessary for critical thinking. Such a person, according to Siegel, (1988:39) ‘habitually seeks evidence and reasons, and is predisposed to so seek – and to base belief and action on the results of such seeking’.

‘The Question’‘The Question’ is the fundamental, first step of what it is to think critically. Thus, when encountering a text such as a poem for the first time, critical thinking could be encouraged amongst pupils through a series of very general questions posed by the teacher. Initially, this could take the form of a full class discussion, with the teacher acting to facilitate a critical ‘loosening up’ by posing general background questions about the overall subject dealt with in the poem. At the same time, such questions could be formed in such a way that would slowly begin to draw out the pupils’ own predilections, experiences and general background knowledge of the topic in question. This could be seen as an example of a pedagogical method known as the ‘Maieutic’ method; a pedagogical method that Leigh (2007) describes as a form of critical thinking. The ‘Maieutic’ method, which translates roughly as ‘Mid-wifely’, involves a process of reflecting upon a topic, text or theory through the facilitation of dialogue between pupils and the topic/text in question. The ‘giving birth’ idea is fairly self explanatory – participation in the dialogue brings to light an understanding that was to some extent already alive inside the learner. For example, in approaching Rilke’s poem ‘The Bullfight’, some very basic questions could be put up for discussion, such as:

In which countries would you expect a bullfight to take place?

●



as whether or not pupils morally agree with bullfighting as a practice. Obviously such issue based discussion involves critical thinking at a fairly sophisticated level in terms of seeking evidence, justification, formulating arguments, counter arguments etc. In dealing with serious or controversial issues in the classroom the teacher has the responsibility of presenting the topic with, what might be termed, critical objectivity. This involves going beyond presenting the various sides of the debate without bias. Indeed, such issues and debates allow the teacher to become an actor, in legitimately representing the various perspectives and positions involved in the debate. In order to induce critical thinking, each perspective and standpoint can be presented in its strongest light and at the same time the most incisive critique can be weighed against it. According to Vandenberg (2009:159), this approach is fully justified because ‘each view is a legitimate expression of a human being with his or her own dignity’. Thus, perspectives on the issue of bullfighting such as those of the matador could be presented by looking factors such as tradition, passion, skill, agility, training and way of life. This could be balanced by highlighting the dangers involved. Other perspectives could also be presented such as the cruelty and torture towards animals balanced with positive economic factors etc. Such a method of presenting issues transcends the notion of simply viewing the topic without bias; rather it necessarily involves and utilizes the various predilections by featuring each aspect of the topic in its strongest and most critical light.

Moreover, by following Vandenberg’s critical approach, one need not be committed to agreeing with him that critical thinking should be thought of as being entirely domain-specific. In fact quite the opposite can clearly

be shown to be the case. Such a pedagogical process or method of reflective role play need not be seen only in terms of its application to a particular subject. We can still talk about the method itself and indeed speak of it as a method that can be abstracted from any particular subject and applied across a range of issues or topics. Thus, the basic structures of the method such as the utilization of background pictures or frameworks and being true to each perspective etc, can be universally applied whether the topic to be dealt with is that of bullfighting, racism, abortion, self-identity or business ethics. Such a distinction between an awareness of this type of critical method and the application of the method in dealing with particular subjects is directly analogous to the distinction between meta-ethics and the application of certain methods of argumentation (formulated through the course of meta-ethical investigation) to normative ethics.

Overall, this general approach to the poem has the further virtue of preparing the way, through careful questioning, for a more transitional understanding of the poem itself. The questions form a context from which the poem is approached in a more meaningful and personalized manner than might otherwise be the case. In probing some of the moral issues surrounding the topic, pupils can discover and contextualise characters that are, or could be, in some way involved in the bullfighting industry. An example of this could be say, a vendor who makes his or her living selling merchandise to the crowd at a bullfight. Lots of preliminary questioning is involved

in contextualising such a character. Such questioning could touch upon social, economic and cultural implications. If bullfighting were to be banned, for instance, what would it mean for the vendor and his or her family? Although there are many such perspectives that could be explored for the purposes of debate, this form of contextualisation also enables pupils to engage with and understand the poem as a whole.

DramatisationOne very good strategy for enabling pupils to approach the poem as a whole can be seen to follow incrementally from activities involving contextualised debate. This strategy involves pupils working in groups to recreate dramatised accounts of various stages of the poem. In doing so, pupils could recreate anywhere between one and three stanzas per

group depending on the class size. Pupils could then explore factors such as character, situation and setting by developing the context for what is already evident in the basic narrative of the poem coupled with the contextualisation created



in previous activities. There are many teaching resources available which provide practical guides to various types of dramatic activity; a range of strategies for drama work can be found in Neeland and Goode (2000). However, in terms of critical thinking it is important to note the type of questioning that can be involved in recreating a dramatised account of the poem.

By introducing characters, pupils would necessarily be formulating questions about perspectives. For example, pupils could construct a dramatised account of the poem’s narrative by introducing two vendors who, in the course of selling their wares inside the stadium, provide a commentary on some of the action depicted in the poem. Conversely, the dramatised account could involve a group of animal rights protesters, who are listening to radio broadcasted commentary of the action. Whatever the scenario, pupils would necessarily have to formulate questions about their characters in order to create distinctive and convincing personalities and character traits. In effect, pupils would be adding in aspects that the author has left out such as motives, reasons and hidden premises. The search for and inclusion of these aspects would amount to the finding and forming of evidence, from which the scenario would follow as a conclusion. The pupils would thus introduce various assumptions and/or premises, often taking the form of conditional propositions. For example, ‘if the vendor is a bullfighting fan, he will cheer for the matador’; ‘if the protestor hears that the matador is killing the bull, she will become angry’ etc. The creation of such perspectives encourages further questions which, in turn, lead to further assumptions and premises which, again in turn, contribute to building a more complex picture or perspective. Fisher (2008:73) captures this thought succinctly when he states that, ‘the power of stories reside in their ability to create possible worlds as objects of intellectual enquiry’. In addition to facilitating this critical procedure of ‘intellectual enquiry’, it is vitally important that the teacher facilitates and encourages the pupils to retrace their own steps in order to critically reflect on their own utilization of the entire reasoning process. This is a further example of the ‘critical step’. Such foregrounding should enable pupils to acquire a stronger disposition towards the utilization of these critical procedures as well as reinforcing and developing the effectiveness of the procedures themselves.

Overall, the procedures outlined so far form a rich foundation and prepare the way for beginning to look at the poem in greater detail, particularly in terms of features such as its structure, language and theme. On one level, ‘The Bullfight’ can be read as a narrative poem, that is, a poem that tells a story. In terms of basic structure, the poem has a sequence of related events which are constitutive of a plot. However, by having concentrated on particular stanzas for purposes of dramatisation, the pupils will already possess a fairly comprehensive overview of the sequence of events which occur in the poem. Having already dramatised sections of the story and been involved with debating some

of the issues, the pupils will also have overcome one of the reasons why, according to Wells (2009:211), students lose critical thinking skills shortly after acquiring them namely, that ‘students are not asked to think critically within an

emotion rich context’. A process of contextualisation is thus important in enabling pupils to emotionally engage with the complex texture of ‘The Bullfight’ as a narrative poem. However, once this level of engagement is firmly established it is important that the teacher should guide pupils towards the next logical process of interpretation by facilitating the ‘critical step’.

Through a variety of activities, the pupils have been encouraged to construct a picture of the poem’s overall narrative/story by asking a range of questions which effectively ask – ‘What is going on?’ However, the ‘critical step’ attempts to get ‘under the skin’ of the narrative by now asking the question – ‘Which features enable or help the reader to decide what is going on?’ This step is critical insofar as it encourages pupils to begin a process of looking at familiar things in different ways. The idea that the poem tells a story and the story of the poem itself are already familiar to the pupils. Once again, the ‘critical step’ invites pupils to retrace their steps in order to critically reflect on a hitherto unexamined process of attaining information and knowledge. Thus, it has already been established that



action occurs in the story. The teacher’s function at this point could be that of guiding pupils’ focus by directing their awareness towards certain features such as those that depict the action. Such facilitation can be implemented by narrowing the range of questions. Thus it could be asked how action is depicted. A natural inclination at this point might be for teachers to encourage pupils to raise questions as to which features of the poem describe the action. However, in order to progress in a more hermeneutic and critical manner, care should be taken to ensure that pupils proceed from amidst the contextualised background which has been established. Before moving on to looking at factors such as description of actions and characters, more work needs to be done regarding the sequencing of events.

By manipulating the poem’s stanzas in order to construct dramatised scenes, the pupils have already become familiar with a certain level of sequencing of events as they occur in the poem. In order to examine the poem’s logical sequence in greater detail, the teacher can now introduce the ‘critical step’ by encouraging a more narrowly focused series of questions. Such questions can be directed towards a further investigation of the stanzas’ sequencing properties. Pupils could be encouraged to consider questions such as:

What features enable the poem to depict action occurring over time?How are such temporal stages organised?Is there logic at work in the way that the action is organised?

One important feature of the poem which can be brought to light through this type of questioning is the fact that the poem is organised through a series of sentences. Such questioning can, in fact, begin to draw out just how important both the concept of ‘the sentence’ and the use of sentences are to the poem and indeed, poetry in general.

The level of the sentenceIn ‘The Bullfight’ each sentence used depicts an instance or instances of action occurring. Each sentence also marks a temporal stage and as such each is constitutive of the basic units which represent the poem’s sequence of events. The chain of logical or causal events could be explored through certain activities such as re-ordering of sentences in the poem and/or altering where sentences begin and end. Group activities involving cutting and pasting sentences in order to obtain results from random sequencing could also be employed to trigger further questioning. The results derived from such active thought experiments encourage questions regarding possible alternative outcomes. Pupils could be led to enquire as to the impact such differences could make to factors such as that of what happens to characters in the poem, the reader’s perception of what is happening, the moral message etc. These questions can then be used to comparatively analyse results with what is evident in the poem. For example, re-structured

●

●

●

models of the poem could be weighed against the poem itself. Pupils could be led to ask which models are more effective; but more importantly, why they are more effective. Therefore, critical thinking occurs when pupils seek evidence and justifications for the claims they make on the basis of questions they have themselves raised. According to Hakes (2008:48) critical thinking is at work when ‘students are encouraged to be speculative, to test hypotheses and compare the credibility of evidence and claims’. By questioning certain aspects of these results, such as how and in what way particular examples change the chain of events, pupils are already amidst a process of critically analysing the poem’s structure.

In addition to promoting critical thinking, there are three reasons for concentrating, at this stage, on the use and manipulation of sentences in the poem. Firstly, by analysing some of the ways that sentences act as a vehicle for depicting action, some of the more formal properties of narrative structure are introduced. This allows for the teacher to draw upon models of narrative structure in general and encourage questioning as to how the poem might fit with such models.

Does the poem satisfy certain conventions of narrative structure? How, if at all, does it subvert certain conventions or norms? Having been encouraged to play with language, to manipulate sentence structures and sequencing, pupils are now in a position to engage more fully with a critical



conception of the poem, weighed against the conventional standards of narrative structure.

Secondly, concentrating on sentence structure prepares the ground for examining some of Rilke’s usage of certain literary devices, such as enjambment. More importantly, however, by concentrating on sentence structure, pupils are beginning to sow the seeds which will allow them to engage with some of Rilke’s more difficult intellectual concerns and ideas. For, although Rilke’s poems of this period are more concerned with the concept of ‘space’ than that of ‘time’, he was interested in how temporal events could be perceived to be enclosed within certain spaces. According to Peters (1960:111) ‘In Rilke’s cosmology Space not Time, is the great transformer…in New Poems Rilke tried to thrust pictures into this space’. Thus, not only are the events of ‘The Bullfight’ perceived as unfolding within the enclosure of ‘the arena’, but the events can also be perceived to unfold within the circumference of certain sentences and stanzas.

Thirdly, such uncovering of the significance of sentence structure through critical thinking marks the first instance of what might be termed a more ‘robust’ use of the ‘critical step’. Previous to this, the teaching and learning strategies outlined had made use of the critical step in a ‘weaker’ sense of building a contextual background which would prepare the way for a richer and more engaging analysis. However, by employing the ‘critical step’ in a more robust manner, the pupils now, not only deal with the text directly but, approach the text in a very distinctive way. The pupils are not simply being asked to identify certain features of the poem, such as sentence structure. Instead, pupils are encouraged to identify possible features which are open to or promote questioning. Thus, pupils can be led to uncover certain features, such as the function of sentences, by asking – ‘what features help decide what is going on?’ Pupils are then responsible for finding and putting forward justifications for their responses which has the further virtue of allowing them to take ownership over their learning.

It would presumably be quicker and, in many cases, more convenient for the teacher to simply point out to her pupils that sentence structure is an important feature in the poem. In employing this more traditional approach to teaching and learning, the teacher could then put forward examples illustrating how this is the case. However, by utilizing the more robust ‘critical step’, pupils are encouraged to work things out for themselves. Thus, rather than simply telling pupils which features in the poem are important, the teacher can employ the ‘critical step’ through a process of facilitating and guiding pupils’ focus and awareness. Through this process, pupils should begin to acquire what Bailin & Siegel (2003:183) refer to as the ‘subset of dispositions necessary for critical thinking’, such as ‘independent mindedness’ and an ‘inquiring attitude’.

As a further corollary to these points, it can be seen how the ‘critical step’ could, at this juncture, be applied across a range of Rilke’s poems from his ‘New Poems’ collection. Some very suitable examples could include ‘The Panther’, ‘The Swan’ and ‘Roman Fountain’. In addition to consolidating prior learning and forming dispositions, it could serve to provide a good general introduction to the poet himself. From this exercise, pupils could then go on to build up a profile of Rilke

and his ideas. The fact that the ‘critical step’ outlined above can be applied to any of Rilke’s poems provides further evidence that this method of critical thinking is both generalizable and transferable.

However, because the ‘critical step’ is, in essence, a general process which in its application proceeds by questioning features in terms of their questionability, it can be applied to any matter; anything can be questioned. Furthermore, the ‘critical step’ is a fundamental process of learning which proceeds through a developmental motion of incremental or hermeneutic growth. Therefore the ‘critical step’ can be initiated as a starting off point for learning about any subject and as such can be in itself prior to specific knowledge of the subject. The fact that the ‘critical step’ can be applied in developing specialist knowledge of any given subject is not sufficient grounds for claiming that the ‘skill’ or method itself is subject specific.

Reflective readingThe element of incremental or hermeneutic growth involved in the ‘critical step’ becomes apparent through each new application of the method. The ‘critical step’ has up to this point uncovered features such as temporal sequencing and sentence structure which contribute essentially to depicting action in the poem. This step has the virtue of both focusing in on the way language is used in the poem and of introducing character analysis. Logically, we are now led to question beyond structural vehicles for action, to questions regarding ‘who’ performs actions and ‘what’ actions they perform. In the poem, characters ‘do’ things (actions) and the actions of the characters are depicted through the poet’s use of certain types of words. Again, pupils can be led to uncover Rilke’s use of descriptive language through an application of the ‘critical step’. The process is one of reconstructed reading. The teacher can once more direct and facilitate questioning among pupils in order that they begin to seek with ever greater depth and attention. The question of what is going on in the poem becomes one of questioning which features help decide what is going on. The ‘critical step’ enables pupils to reflect on their reading of the text. In concrete terms, the reflective process is one in which pupils utilise questions to retrace their steps and by doing so begin to figure out why it is that they saw what they saw in the text.

...the ‘critical step’ is a fundamental process

of learning which proceeds through a

developmental motion of incremental or

hermeneutic growth.



Character and actionHaving used the ‘critical step’ to uncover certain language features in the poem, the pupils are now in a position to build on their knowledge through the introduction of a range of activities which promote critical thinking. By comparing the type of language used to describe both the actions of the characters and the characters themselves, pupils could employ inferential skills to build up a more comprehensive picture of what is happening in the poem and how it is happening. For example, the bull is described as viewing his ‘baiting attackers with their beribboned banderillas as part of a game’. Pupils could be asked to reconstruct a picture of what is happening from the bull’s perspective; what does the bull see? Thus, pupils can be led, through a series of questioning, to construct arguments, provide missing premises and draw conclusions: ‘If the bull viewed the bullfighters as part of some kind of game, then what did the bull see?’ ‘If the bull had viewed the bullfighters as ‘baiting attackers’ and ‘banderillas’ as deadly darts, then would the bull have viewed the situation as a

game?’ ‘Why does the bull view the situation as part of a game?’ This type of questioning encourages further questioning regarding questionable features of the words which denote and describe characters. Thus, features such as alliteration and connotation could be uncovered and examined in terms of what they might add to an interpretation of the poem.

Similar strategies could be employed to reconstruct the poem through an awareness of what the characters do and how they are described. Pupils could be asked

to replace descriptive words with words of their own choosing or with more random alternatives via cut and paste exercises. Again pupils could compare and discuss a range of alternative possibilities, looking at features such as causal progression. From this, pupils could identify how the sequenced stages can be said to be either consistent or inconsistent. Through discussion, pupils could be encouraged to construct arguments for or against possible outcomes. The teacher could take advantage of such activities to help pupils identify and make use of argument construction and assessment as well as distinguishing rhetorical ploys and fallacies. Such activities promote a conception of critical thinking described by Winch (2006:60) as ‘the appropriate recognition of rhetorical contexts and…construction of coherent arguments out of material that may be incomplete in the particular context.’

By piecing together the discoveries made through examining stanza and sentence structure and the descriptions of character and action, pupils will have began

to form a rich foundation for a comprehensive reading of ‘The Bullfight’ as a narrative poem. Investigation of these two features also prepares the way for further enquiry into, not only what is happening in the poem but also how what is happening in the poem is happening. Again, by employing a process of looking at the poem for questionable features, pupils are able to uncover further characteristics. For example, further inquiry into sentence structure can reveal fairly obvious, but vitally important, characteristics such as the fact that the poem is set out on the page in lines.



Related activitiesThrough considering the obvious fact that the poem is divided into lines coupled with previous work on sentence structure and description, pupils could be led to draw inferences as to how the poet manages to create movement, tension and drama in the poem. One very questionable feature is the fact that sentences are split up over lines. Pupils could be encouraged to question why the poet runs one line over to the next line. (See Appendix 2) One good strategy for examining Rilke’s use of enjambment in ‘The Bullfight’ is to encourage pupils to view it as a feature of the poem’s graphics. The comparison with computer graphics has the added advantage of introducing various activities which promote critical thinking. For example, pupils could be encouraged to design a computer game based on ‘The Bullfight’. Through a consideration of the various properties which might comprise such a game, pupils could be conducted towards a comparative examination of different types of text namely, computer games and poetry. This could perhaps help pupils to contextualise poetry in general, in terms of exploring it in light of what could (perhaps) be thought of as more familiar cultural phenomena. However, one very notable means of promoting critical thinking would be to introduce debate over the moral question of designing a computer game based on the idea of bullfighting. Although pupils may previously have been involved in debating the question of bullfighting itself, this would add a new angle, one which could perhaps be viewed as closer and more relevant to the contexts of the pupils’ own lives.

On one level, ‘The Bullfight’ can be viewed as a narrative poem and as such it can be seen to develop themes such as man versus animal, cruelty to animals versus sport and bullfighting as a cold but stylish art. However, on another, very different level, the poem can be viewed as a projection of reality (much like a sculpture) which examines themes such as the essence of ‘things’, the nature of perspective and the relationship between subjectivity and objectivity. According to Rolleston (1993:471) ‘Rilke crystallizes a perfect fusion of the theory and practice of objectivity’. By encouraging further application of the ‘critical step’ the teacher can begin to facilitate an understanding of this latter, more philosophical, interpretation of ‘The Bullfight’.

Going deeperIn order to delve deeper and explore the complex ideas contained in Rilke’s poetry, pupils would perhaps be expected to adopt a greater intensity of concentration than may have been required up to this point. By approaching the opening lines of the poem with a questioning attitude, pupils could once again be encouraged to seek questionable features; features which draw attention to themselves by igniting further questioning. It is through this process of questioning and seeking justification for, not only responses but, the questions themselves that enables pupils to construct a critical interpretation of the text. Thus, pupils could, for example, be led to question why

the poet uses alliteration in the opening line of the poem: ‘He seemed surprisingly small…’ Through questioning this questionable feature, pupils’ attention can be drawn to focus upon the idea of ‘perspective’. This opens up further questioning: from whose point of view are we seeing things? (See Appendix ) By uncovering the notion of ‘perspective’, pupils can begin to understand something of Rilke’s intellectual or philosophical enterprise. Through his depiction of ‘things’ or objects, Rilke attempted to examine how any given subject could, according to Ryan (2001:152) transcend ‘the limitedness of its own perspective’. What is the relationship between the subjective (perspective) and the objective (thing)? In other words, through his poetry, Rilke attempted to explore the ways in which objective form could be contained in a collection of subjective impressions. Such subjective impressions can be described as points of view or perspectives.



Thus, in enquiring from whose point of view ‘The Bullfight’ takes place, pupils can be led to question whether we are seeing things from an onlooker’s point of view, or from the bull’s point of view. Both possibilities would require justification. (See Appendix 3) This could involve paired or group activities whereby pupils could put forward hypotheses, test claims against those of their peers and seek evidence from which to base conclusions upon. Through further questioning, pupils could be encouraged to consider the idea that Rilke invites the reader to view events from both perspectives. By applying the ‘critical step’ to questionable features of the poem such as the grammatical function of words, enjambment and connotation, pupils could be led to recognise what Ryan (2001:142) refers to as the ‘reversal of perspective’. This occurs when the reader is immersed in a certain point of view when suddenly, without her quite realising how, she becomes aware that she is looking at things from a completely different perspective. As Peters (1960:106)

points out, this method is known as ‘the miracle in Rilke’s work’. Such care and critical attention is required when approaching Rilke’s work because, as Peter’s indicates, Rilke realized that words ‘are tools that demand careful and precise handling…he wanted to control them’.

Across the curriculumIt should be noted that, although the method has been exemplified in terms of a contextualised, subject specific domain, the method can be abstracted and looked upon either as a method with certain formal properties or as a method that is applicable across a range of subjects and contexts. Formal properties of the ‘critical step’ include that of questioning the ‘questionability’ of certain features of any given text, reflecting upon features questioned and also a undertaking a process of focusing or becoming aware and seeking justification for hypotheses. The ‘critical step’ can be applied to subjects and events ranging from philosophical texts to empirical

science and real life situations. Johnson (2010) rejects the claim that critical thinking skills can be transferable. One of Johnson’s main points of contention states roughly that prior knowledge of the actual subject to which critical thinking is being applied is a necessary condition for the application of that particular critical thinking skill. Therefore, according to Johnson, there can be no examples of applied critical thinking skills which are subject independent.

The ‘critical step’ is a general learning process and as such can be applied across the curriculum. The ‘critical step’ can obviously be applied in its ‘weaker’ sense of



building contextual backgrounds in preparation for fuller explorations of topics. Pupils’ own experiences can be

drawn out when engaging with social subjects such as History and Modern Studies through discussions of the wide range of popular media and fiction which touch on certain historical or political events. In dealing with the sciences, everyday or natural objects can be questioned in terms of their common application or environmental situation. This then encourages pupils to begin to seek out reasons and justifications for their own background predilections. Why is a certain epoch portrayed in an epic or sentimental way? Why is this event still seen to be important? Why is there so much media coverage over a certain political event? How does a certain appliance operate in such a way? In this sense, contexts are created which allow the pupil to approach the topic in a meaningful and personalised light. From this, further research allows pupils to reflect upon both their initial and then more considered approaches.

A further application of the ‘critical step’ facilitates awareness of questionable features. For instance – which features of the epoch/event/object help the enquirer to decide what is going on? Again, the re-ordering of the structure of events or causal sequencing can be explored in order to further critical analysis and enable pupils to look at familiar things in different ways. This forms part of a more robust application of the ‘critical step’. This stage is one

whereby pupils are encouraged to seek out questionable elements and possibilities. The process would involve meta-questioning and picking apart historical or current affairs by identifying what is questionable about these affairs in terms such features as their causes and effects or moral dimensions or implications. Thus, the ‘critical step’ essentially begins with general questioning and construction of a contextualised background. The more robust application involves becoming aware, through questioning, of certain questionable features contained in the text/situation/object itself.

ReferencesBailin, S. and Siegel, H. (2003) Critical Thinking, In Nigel Blake, Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, and Paul Standish (eds.) The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Education, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, pages 181-193Fisher, R. (2008) Teaching Thinking. Philosophical Enquiry in the Classroom, London: Continuum International Publishing Group.Hakes, B. (2008) When Critical Thinking Met English Literature. A Resource Book for Teachers and Their Students, Oxford: How To Books Ltd.Johnson, S. and Siegel, H. (2010) Teaching Thinking Skills, London: Continuum International Publishing Group.Leigh, F. (2007) Platonic Dialogue, Maieutic Method and Critical Thinking, Journal of Philosophy of Education, 41 (3), pages 310-322, Blackwell Publishers.Neelands, J. and Goode, T. (2000) Structuring Drama Work, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Peters, H.F. (1960) Rainer Maria Rilke: Masks and the Man, Seattle: University of Washington Press.Rilke, R. M. (1990) Selected Poems, New York: RoutledgeRolleston, J.L. (1993) German Poetry, In Alex Preminger and T. V. F Brogan (eds.) The New Princeton Encylopedia of Poetry and Poetics, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, pages 462-474.Ryan, L. (2001) Neue Gedichte – New Poems, In Erika A. Metzger and Michael M. Metzger (eds.) A Companion to the Works of Rainer Maria Rilke, Rochester NY: Camden HouseSiegel, H. (1988) Educating Reason, Rationality, Critical Thinking, and Education, New York: Routledge Inc.Vandenberg, D. (2009) Critical Thinking About Truth in Teaching: The Epistemic Ethos, Educational Philosophy and Theory 41 (2), pages 155-165.Wells, K. (2009) Learning and Teaching Critical Thinking: From a Peircean Perspective, Educational Philosophy and Theory 41 (2), pages 201-218.Winch, C. (2006) Education, Autonomy and Critical Thinking, London: Routledge.



1. He seemed surprisingly small as he broke out of the2. opened bull pen. With startled eyes and ears alert,3. he viewed his baiting attackers with their beribboned4. banderillas as part of a game. Then suddenly

5. he changed into the formidable animal that he was, -6. see: his massiveness filled with an old black hate7. as his lowered head takes on the shape of a clenched fist.8. He no longer plays games with anyone. 9. Oh no! The bloody steel-spiked lances of the 10. picadors sink in behind the lowered horns into his11. back, as enraged he faces the matador,12. his opponent destined since eternity,

13. who in his gold and mauve-rose costume14. suddenly turns round, and, like a swarm of bees,15. as if completely at ease, he casually lets16. the storming beast pass beneath his outstretched arm,

17. while his burning eyes look upward to the stands,18. surveying calmly the throng surrounding the arena,19. as if with every opening and closing of his eyes,20. the crowds drifted down to him in light and shade,

21. till he quite calm, unhating, leaning on himself,22. relaxed, nonchalant meets the final assault,23. the mounting wave that loses as it strikes, so that 24. his sword sinks almost softly into the dying bull.

The Bullfight By Rainer Maria Rilke



The Bullfight -WorksheetRun-on-lines

Look at the end of line 1:

1. He seemed surprisingly small as he broke out of the2. opened bull pen.

You should notice that no punctuation (full stop, comma) is used at the end of line 1. The end of the line runs on to the next line. This is called a ‘run-on-line’. It is also known by the French word, ‘enjambement’, which means ‘a striding over’.

Question: Why does the poet run one line over on to the next line?

Answer: The run-on-line creates movement. It may help to think of computer graphics. This, in a sense, is how the graphics of the poem are created. In this instance, the fact that line 1 runs on to line 2 gives us a more graphic picture of the bull bursting out of the opened pen and rushing out into the arena.

It emphasises the force and quickness of the bull’s movement in a way that the following does not:

1. He seemed surprisingly small,2. As he broke out of the opened bull pen,

The introduction of a comma, at the end of line one, slows the pace of the action and there is no longer the same dramatic sense of urgency.

Tasks: Write down the line number pairings where Rilke uses run-on-lines. For example: 1&2Pick out any three examples and say why you think Rilke has chosen to use run-on-lines.Pick out one of these examples and insert commas at the end of the line. What difference does this make to the sense, meaning or feel of the lines?

1.

2.

3.



The Bullfight – Stanza 11. He seemed surprisingly small as he broke out of the

2. opened bull pen. With startled eyes and ears alert,

3. he viewed his baiting attackers with their beribboned

4. banderillas as part of a game. Then suddenly

Look carefully at lines 1 & 2.1. He seemed surprisingly small as he broke out of the2. opened bull pen.

As readers, our attention is drawn to the alliteration used in the phrase ‘seemed surprisingly small’. If our attention is drawn to a particular aspect of the poem, then it is always a good idea to ask why?

Why does the poet use alliteration in order to draw our attention?

It is clear that it is the bull that seems surprisingly small. The question could then become:

To whom exactly does the bull seem surprisingly small?

This introduces the idea of perspective.

From whose point of view are we seeing things from?

Perhaps Rilke is drawing our attention to the idea that there can be more than one point of view; that the bull ‘seemed surprisingly small’ from more than one perspective.

This would mean that the opening statement of the poem contains an ambiguity. (Something is ambiguous when it has more than one meaning or interpretation – e.g. they are cooking apples.)

Look at the following diagram:

What do you see? A duck orA rabbit?

What you see depends on how you look at the picture.

To whom does the bull ‘seem surprisingly small’?

●

●

●

●



Rilke is in fact famous for using a method called The Reversal of Perspective. This occurs when we are reading a line of poetry from one perspective and somehow, without our quite realising how, we begin to see things from another perspective. This is what some critics have called Rilke’s genius. However, Rilke uses various techniques to achieve this effect.

Rilke invites us to look at the bull from different perspectives.

1. An onlooker (someone in the crowd).How many reasons can you give for saying the bull ‘seemed surprisingly small’ to an onlooker?

Teacher Guide

The words ‘seemed’ and ‘surprisingly’ are evaluative terms - implying an onlooker – someone who ‘does the seeming’ and who is surprised.The words ‘seemed’ and ‘surprised’ also imply certain expectations. Thus, the onlooker could be someone observing a bullfight for the first time and is at first surprised that the bull does not somehow appear larger and more threatening.

2. The bullHow many reasons can you give for saying that the bull ‘seemed surprisingly small’ to itself?

Teacher Guide

Use of personal pronoun ‘he’ suggests that the bull is somehow self aware and has feelings – ‘he seemed’ and ‘he broke’ – depends on how the reader interprets the relation of pronoun to verb – is there consistency with both instances?The word choice ‘broke out’ suggests that the bull is excited and impatient. It also emphasises the force and speed with which the bull bursts into the arena.The speed and force is also reinforced by the use of a run-on-line.Therefore, the bull may have expected to have made more of an impact. It may not have expected to find itself in such an overwhelming and large arena and as a result could be said to feel ‘surprisingly small’ in contrast to his surroundings.

Documents

The Critical Step