What distinguishes one literacy language from another? There are so many different types of literature, that it is easy to mistake one form for another. For example, a reader might not recognize a poem when faced with one or on the other hand, a reader might think they have read a poem when it might just have been a well worded phrase. How do you recognize a poem when you see one? It is said by linguistics that "the act of recognition is triggered by the observable presence of distinguishing features. That is, you know a poem when you see one because its language displays the characteristics that you know to be proper to poems."(306) In other words, the process of identifying a certain type of literacy language from another comes down to the act of recognizing the formal characteristics of that type of literacy language. For example, when a person is presented with a text and is told that it is a poem, they will automatically put on their "poetry-seeing eyes", that is, that they will see everything in relation to properties that can be seen in poetry. It can be said that it is as though they are following the instructions for a toy-do it this way and you will see it this way. Some people think of poems as more complex and densely structured than ordinary text. This can ultimately present a problem for them because it can cause them to make the interpreting of the poem more difficult. If they are told that poetry is complex, they will analyze the language of the poem and try to bring out the complexity of the poem even if it does not exist. Poetry is its own type of language within itself. There can be all different types of interpretations for one poem and it is unfair to say that one person's interpretation is wrong. It is said "Interpretation is not the art of construing but the art of constructing. Interpreters do not decode poems: they make them."(307) The art of identifying different types of literacy language come down to specific literacy characteristics that related to that type of literature.
