Corille Fisher Discussion 4

In “How to Read a Poem” by Edward Hirsch, the author discusses poet William Carlos Williams’s idea that a reader “completes” what a poet has started, saying that the “act of completion begins when you enter the imaginative play of a poem, bringing to it your experience and point of view” (Hirsch).  In other words, poetry is up for interpretation, and that interpretation varies from person to person and over time can change meaning.  To a similar point, he explains, “Sometimes the job of the poem is to come closer to saying what cannot be said in other forms of writing, to suggest an experience, idea, or feeling that you can know but not entirely express in any direct or literal way” (Hirsch).  I think William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” is a beautiful piece of work to “complete.”  Shakespeare uses metaphors and other figurative language to compare his beloved to the summer, but criticizes the summer for being hot and fleeting.  Shakespeare goes on to say “But thy eternal summer shall not fade…So long lives this, and this gives life to thee,” referring to his beloved as his “eternal summer” (aka never-ending good parts), then references the poem itself saying that as long as the poem exists, his love is everlasting.  Though Shakespeare does not spell that out for the readers, his writing effectively paints a picture of the emotion for the readers to “complete.”