Today's Poem of Choice On

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Today's Poem of Choice

On the google search line, the poem of choice for today is Robert Frost's magnificent sonnet, "The Silken Tent." Those of you looking, I do not post paraphrases. A paraphrase of a poem is not an assist to understanding, it is a bowdlerization of a work of art. You don't need someone to interpret Michelangelo's "David", Leonardo's "Last Supper", or David's "Spirit of Liberty." So too, rely on your own reading and understanding. It is correct, it cannot be otherwise because a poem is universal because it speaks to each person where he or she is. Yes, you can extract some pre-existant "meaning" trying to divine "authorial intent." But that puts such strict limits on the poem. No paraphrase will help, nor will any commentary truly assist. Trust your own instincts--you'll learn a whole lot more that way.

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This page contains a single entry by Steven Riddle published on November 4, 2002 5:31 PM.

Voting Pro-Life? Perhaps not, according was the previous entry in this blog.

On Poetry (part 9,847,715,235.1) is the next entry in this blog.

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