YOU ARE WRONG.

Remember the days when poetry was broad and generalites could be made? When the most far-fetched ideas were possibilities of interpretation? After reading Perrine's article on interpreting poetry, I'll look at poems from a whole different perspective. I thought we were doing perfectly fine analyzng what we were reading, comng up with symbols and finding the rhetoric strategies. Now Perrine tells us that we were wrong. I completely dsagree with the article. I believe that poetry cannot be interpreted completely correct or completely incorrect. No one but the author of the poem knows exactly what is being said, not even the smartest literature professor in the world.

I don't like being told that I am wrong, especially when there is no clear answer. Literature isn't math class where one plus one is always two. There must be room for educated guessing and high level analyzation. I do not understand the concept that if one thing is off track when in figuring the meaning, then the whole meaning to you is wrong. Bits and pieces of literature can work together to come up with a common, general theme. In my opinion, simply having an educated idea about the meaning and symbols of the poem should be considered correct. No one but the author of the poem can tell me that my interpretation is 100 percent wrong.