TRY
YOUR HAND AT EXPLICATION
This method can can be
applied to any writing you wish to "interpret"!
Let's start with any one line to get the feel of the discussion!
Suppose our poem consisted of a single word:
Red.
How would you "interpret" the poem?
Try closing your eyes to picture "red." Write what you
pictured. Is that what the poem means?
Try writing down as quickly as you can every thing that comes into
your mind after you write the word "red" on a piece of paper.
Make the list as long as you can. Don't hold back. Free associate! Which
of the things you wrote comes closest to how you read the word/poem "Red?"
Go to the dictionary and look up the word "red." Copy out
the definition. (The Merriam Webster On-line Dictionary lists at
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary
lists "114 entries"! Which definition of "red"
comes closest to the way you want the word/poem "Red" to be
read?
How does your definition and interpretation of "red" go
with the following definition (found on line at http://www.atis.org/tg2k/_red.html)?
RED: [The] designation applied to information systems, and
associated areas, circuits, components, and equipment in which national
security information is being processed.
What if someone said "red" meant "
the enemy" as in "better dead than red?"
Clearly, words can have many meanings--an infinite variation of
meanings if one considers the individual connotations we each bring to
words! But do not despair. Reading a poem is just a matter of thinking
about the words, noting what comes to mind, and weaving a "meaning" from what you think.
