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Poetry and Meaning
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From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 15:36:11 -0500
Like Susan Patton, I, too, appreciate what Sonya Sones shared from Jorie Graham.
I think it's always important to remember that poetry is both an act of creation and an act of interpretation, and the intent of the former (which isn't even always fully conscious in the mind of the creator--even poets can get something new from reading and rereading their own works) does not lead to something direct and definitve in the latter.
Poetry is intensely personal. Readers of poems bring their own knowledge and life experiences to their understanding of a work. Just as the writers do. So for me, there is no right and wrong in understanding a poem. There are layers of meaning that have the potential to shift with each reader, and to change for an indivdual reader. What matters most is that the reader makes a connection.
What we know of a poet and her/his life can certainly affect how we understand what has been written, just as what we know of ourselves and the world will influence it.
The energy, and the life force, of poetry starts with the act of creation, but continues in the connection between the individual and the poem, and the knowledge that such a connection can shift and change and deepen because of the very nature of poetry.
I think the prospect of children and young adults discovering the layers and nuances and varied possibilities in any poem is one of the things that makes poetry so wonderful. But it's never about right and wrong.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Tue 29 Apr 2003 03:36:11 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 15:36:11 -0500
Like Susan Patton, I, too, appreciate what Sonya Sones shared from Jorie Graham.
I think it's always important to remember that poetry is both an act of creation and an act of interpretation, and the intent of the former (which isn't even always fully conscious in the mind of the creator--even poets can get something new from reading and rereading their own works) does not lead to something direct and definitve in the latter.
Poetry is intensely personal. Readers of poems bring their own knowledge and life experiences to their understanding of a work. Just as the writers do. So for me, there is no right and wrong in understanding a poem. There are layers of meaning that have the potential to shift with each reader, and to change for an indivdual reader. What matters most is that the reader makes a connection.
What we know of a poet and her/his life can certainly affect how we understand what has been written, just as what we know of ourselves and the world will influence it.
The energy, and the life force, of poetry starts with the act of creation, but continues in the connection between the individual and the poem, and the knowledge that such a connection can shift and change and deepen because of the very nature of poetry.
I think the prospect of children and young adults discovering the layers and nuances and varied possibilities in any poem is one of the things that makes poetry so wonderful. But it's never about right and wrong.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Tue 29 Apr 2003 03:36:11 PM CDT
