I never really understood poetry before taking this class. I like the fact that every time we read a new poem we take time to break the poem down and explain every part. Also, when we take time to hear everyone else’s different point of view and the way they see the poem. It gives you different ideas of what the poem could mean. When we were discussing “The Sick Rose” in our last class, everyone had many different explanations to what they thought the Rose symbolized. Since the course began my thought of poetry has definitely changed. I always thought poetry was so hard and confusing but since taking this class I’ve realized that it’s not so hard. You just have take your time in reading the poems and breaking them down so you can understand every part.
ENGL 2003 / Section 5547
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I don’t necessarily agree that breaking down a “poem” is going to help at interpreting it. It may help you understand it in your own way, but not in the writer’s way. The only true way to find out the meaning of a poem is by finding out the write’s inspiration or even if he had any. Maybe your the type of person that likes to interpret poems by forming your own opinion about them, but I’d rather find out the true history of the writing. It helps us understand it more. An opinion teaches nothing unless it’s supported by facts.
I agree with famuel13. In simply breaking down a poem, you are merely finding more of a literal meaning rather than an emotional meaning. I find that breaking down a poem literally causes the reader to only discover the face value of the poem and not really read between the lines, or from lack of a better word, to “feel” the poems.
I disagree @famuel13 poetry in my opinion is about trying to interpret what the author is saying. Although it is possible to obtain facts such as what is the writers preferred style e.g. romantic, scary, or sad, it is not entirely possible to find out what they were thinking. A poem is one’s own personal expression and it is not entirely possible to determine what they meant without throwing in opinion. You could find out things such as what time period was this poem created or did the author suffer a break -up but even with this information if related, is it possible to determine the “true meaning” of their expression. Even if the author stated his intention is it completely reliable?