Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Assignment #8--Poems
In my opinion reader response is the best way to criticize the poem of Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken”. Even if the poet spoke of the poem as very tricky, I think, it still leaves a room for interpretation by readers. It is quite possible that readers can read “The Road Not Taken” in theirs 20's with an entirely different perspective than they would when they reach 80. Very often this poem is interpreted as a serious poem about the idea of life as journey or the metaphor of the road of life and about the decisions we make in life, and for those who read it in this way it may be valid. But it is possible to rise some other questions, for example: is it worth questioning or theorizing at the end of our life what may have happened if we have had chosen a different path in life? or is it beneficial for some to claim that the path, which they chosen, was the hardest as well as the most outstanding? As well as many more question. Because this poem rise more questions then it answers I think the reader response is the best approach. By applying this type of response we gain deeper appreciation of the multiple uses of language and a better understanding of how transformations of meaning are initiated and sustained during literary reading. We also learn how text affects the reader intellectually and affectively.
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I really like the way you have put the question here. Sometimes I do think, may be we will think differently about what would have happened if we have had chosen a different path in life? May be somewhere in our lives, we would ask question to ourselves like this. I also believe that this is a tricky poem but I really like this. Through reader response criticism, we can interpret the idea of this poem the way we like and I think it is easy to understand too.
ReplyDeleteOnce we use reader-response criticism on and poem, we will come up with a lot of questions so that we could think deeply about the poem. People are always making choice throughout their life. People will afraid and wonder whether they are making a good choice or if they pick the other choice will be much better than now. The poem looks easy to understand but it is meaningful for life.
ReplyDeleteI like how you used the reader response criticism to question the author's meaning, and not just accept what the author meant it to be.
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