In Praise of Ambiguity: Rethinking Poetry Pedagogy and the Transition from Efferent Reading to Aesthetic Transaction

Abstract The fundamental objective of this research is to analyze the role of phenomenology in teaching poetry to children and to elucidate the necessity of transitioning from instrumentalist approaches to the realm of "aesthetic transaction" as a response to the crisis of imaginative stagnation in current educational systems. The central inquiry explores why and how prevailing paradigms, by reducing poetry to mere literary knowledge, lead to the erosion of the child's lived experience and the erasure of their subjectivity as a meaning-maker. This study employs a qualitative approach based on descriptive-analytical methods and research synthesis; by collecting and analyzing the key insights of theorists such as Louise Rosenblatt, Michael Benton, and Aidan Chambers, it re-evaluates theoretical concepts and aligns them with contemporary pedagogical needs. Critiquing "efferent reading," the article emphasizes the necessity of implementing "Benton’s ten phenomenological principles," wherein concepts such as sonic resonance, spatial architecture, and the hermeneutics of white space are considered the primary pillars of poetic reception. Among the most significant operational achievements of this study is the proposal of a three-layered developmental model, which includes the physical redesign of the classroom into "communities of inquiry," the suspension of premature technical analysis, and the replacement of quantitative grading systems with "response portfolios" to document the evolution of student imagination. Ultimately, the research reaches the strategic conclusion that in the era of Artificial Intelligence dominance, poetry education based on intuition and the embrace of "constructive ambiguity" is not merely an ornamental choice but an existential stronghold to safeguard human authenticity and the child's capacity for meaning-making against machine and digital logic; a finding that highlights the urgent need for a fundamental revision of educational policies and literary curriculum planning. Keywords: Phenomenology of Reading, Aesthetic Reading, Critical Pedagogy of Literature, Imagination, Literary Act, Michael Benton.