Terry Eagleton: ". . . a poem does not come complete with a ready-made context for making sense of its words. Instead, we have to bring such a context to it, and there is always a repertoire of different possibilities here. This is not to say that poems can mean just anything you like. '
And justify the ways of God to men' cannot mean '
And fix my puncture with some chewing gum,' (see image at left) at least not as the English language is presently constituted." (
How to Read a Poem, 32)
A "repertoire of different possibilities" means a bunch of possible answers (readings, interpretations, meanings) that can be considered - what? - correct, right, reasonable? So there are lots of legitimate explanations of the meanings a text can have, but that doesn't mean there are not also illegitimate, wrong-headed, terrible, no good, very bad explanations.
ReplyDeleteBut it's an opinion isn't it? Didn't we learn in elementary school that an opinion cannot be right or wrong, true or false?
What's the diff?
Not Dr. Benton
To say that there is more than ONE right answer is not the same as saying there are no wrong answers. A person may have multiple motives for acting in a particular way. For example, I am writing this comment because I am interested in the subject. I am also writing this comment because I hope students will benefit from reading it. Why have I written this comment? There is more than one right answer. It is not, true, however, that I am writing this comment because I believe it will make the hair on the top of my head grow back. It may be your OPINION that I am writing this comment because I want to make the hair on the top of my head grow back, and that may be what you TRULY believe, but that doesn't make the observation correct, reasonable, or persuasive for a well-informed audience.
ReplyDeleteBy the same token, an action may have multiple effects. Because I have written this comment, I may have a clearer idea of what I want to say. Also, because I have written this comment, those who read it may have a clearer idea of what I believe. Yet it would not be true to say that because I have written this comment, the sun will rise tomorrow, even if it is your opinion that this is so. You are entitled to your personal opinions, but just because it is your opinion doesn't mean that educated people will find it persuasive.
Many literary texts are intentionally designed in a way that invites multiple interpretations. This does not mean that every interpretation is valid. Just because there is not ONE right answer does not mean that all answers are right.
Your goal in this class is not simply to offer a genuine account of your opinion of the text. The goal is to describe the meaning of a text in a way that might be persuasive for an educated audience.
Who gets to decide what an educated audience might consider persuasive? In this class, that's my job; in the world outside this class, it might be an editor's job. In this class, I take on this responsibility knowing that educated audiences may be persuaded by differing arguments.
I believe that the context of a poem and what the author is trying to convey is going to have an effect on how the reader views and takes in the poem. The author writes the poem and has his own meaning. The reader will take a sub-topic and certain aspect of this meaning and then take it in their own personal way. Since everyone is different, the readers will take the poem in differently and view it differently, but it should always be based on what the writer was trying to get across also.
ReplyDelete