Perrine Poetry Blog

Poetry has always been one of my favorite styles of writing. I think it is a beautiful, short, to the point way of getting the writers ideas or thoughts across. When I first began to read the Perrine's thoughts on poetry, I became a little perturbed. I believe that poems can be interpreted in more than one way. In the beginning of his writing, Perrine contradicts himself. He says that there is only one correct interpretation of a poem, but then proceeds to tell the reader that when he passed out the Emily Dickinson poem to other students and colleagues, "not one of them interpreted the poem as I did." This obviously shows that every mind cannot think the exact same thing, but he still says there is only one "correct" answer? This threw me off. Poetry inspires the reader and most of the time, the reader receives a message that they absorb and carry with them. Is is right to tell them that the personal message they received s incorrect?

I began to understand Perrine a little more when he started speaking about symbols and meanings. Symbols do not have infinite meanings. When people begin to assume details, their interpretations of a work can become quite off, but I like Perrine's thoughts about the "cone of light" that he brings up. I believe that poetry can strike people differently, but in reason. Readers can't just make the poem whatever they want it to be. Details do need to match up and there must be a good reasoning for their thoughts. As long as their thoughts are somewhere in the cone of light, I believe they are acceptable. Even though Perrine was not on my favorite list when I began reading this article, I do believe the last sentence holds the true meaning of this work. " Any correct interpretation must satisfactorily explain the details of the poem without being contradicted by any detail; the best interpretations will reply on the fewest assumptions not grounded in the poem itself. "