In “How to Read a Poem” the biggest idea I took out of it was that there was no one way to interpret a poem. There are countless ways to understand a poem, and each person can understand things differently. That is what we, the readers, complete I think of a poem as a puzzle the writer gives the outer lining of the poem, but each time we interpret the poem differently, we add a different piece to the poem. For example, in the poem.” The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by W. B. Yeats, my first understanding of the poem was a man escaping from the city or just from his normal life to the wilderness and taking in nature. Then on my second read, I thought of it as him comparing two different life of his in the busy everyday life another where he lives freely in his cabin. These two similar ideas are like 2 pieces of the puzzle that I put together.
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5 thoughts on “Wyman Siu Discussion 12”
Hello Wyman! I enjoyed reading your discussion! You are completely right and that makes me feel a lot better about myself. There are multiple ways to read a poem since we all interpret things so differently because we all experienced different things. Whenever I was questioned in high school about a poem I always got the majority of them wrong because the test wanted us to see the poem the way the test makers see the poem, they completely dismissed the way the students see the poem. I really like your example because when you read the poem the second time you are able to add to your first time understanding of the poem why he wants to escape. As we read more we add to our own thoughts more!
Siu, one of the wonderful things you did was to return to the poem more than once. This allowed you to expand and add to your ideas. Ideas can overlap in poems, and both your interpretations are valid because they are text-based.
Hey there, Wyman! That was what I imagined as well. An older man or tired man leaving a loud and active place to be around nature for a sense of peace. He seemed to put an emphasis on the sounds nature makes. Almost like relief to hear that over something less pleasant. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Wyman I agree that the article is really helpful and that there is no real way to read a poem and that everyone may have a different interpretation for a poem but that doesn’t make anyone right or wrong.
Hello Wyman I think that there is no definite way to interpret a poem. It was also something that was important for me to understand poems. When I read some of the poems in the activities I did multiple readings and I had different interpretations for each and was surprised how some of my interpretations had similar tones but vary differently in one detail and that one detail managed to make the poem seem completely different.