Perrine Poetry

"More than one meaning may be valid, but not just any meaning can be."

Before reading Perrine's article, I was one of those students who believed that any interpretation of a poem was just as good as any other. However, after reading this article, I realized I was 100% wrong. After being completely wrong about all four poems that we were originally assigned, I figure that Perrine's criteria for interpreting a poem could be a huge help. I think that Perrine's approach to determining the "correct" interpretations of poetry are valid and have the potential to be very helpful. However, I think it is more easily said than done. It seems like one of those skills that requires a great deal of practice to become reasonably good at. For instance, when Perrine was describing they correct interpretations for the poems that we read to introduce us to poetry, his interpretations made total sense, and much more sense than my ideas. Hoever, I would have never come up with those things on my own.

Perrine also states that words in poetry have richer meaning and purposeful ambiguities, but the meanings are still confined to a certain area. I agree with Perrine on this because I believe that the amibuities are meant to call readers to a deeper thinking that will allow them to truly enjoy the work. I disagree with the comparison to a scientific hypothesis. For one, I find it totally irrelevant to the topic and an invalid comparison. To me, scientific hypotheses are based on a large amount of research and scientific knowledge. The hypothesis is formed by the most likely possibility based on the research, not the simplest or most economical way to interpret the facts without contradicting any known facts. This article will help me study poetry in this class because now I know to look beyond the literal meaning and search for something deeper. It will help me discover the meaning behind symbols because now I have any idea of the types of things to look for like similarities between nouns and adjectives and the usage of plurals. I think that overall Perrine's article is very helpful in teaching people how to correctly interpret poetry.