poem, our understanding is usually subjective and affected by our personal experiences and emotions. Readers form various big pictures of a single poem and draw different inferences about the poem.

Questions for Discussion

1. What is our chief concern when we endeavor to interpret a poem?

2. How does the author interpret the poem ―Those Winter Sundays‖ based on observations, inferences and conclusions?

3. What does the poet Robert Frost try to tell the reader in his poem ―Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening‖?

4. Why do we say that one should interpret a poem before he is able to evaluate the poem?

Key to questions for discussion

1. When we endeavor to interpret a poem, our chief concern is what the poem really means or suggests, rather than how the poem affects us. In other words, interpretation is based on our rational understanding and intellectual comprehension instead of our emotional responses.

2. The author senses the poet’s remorse and regret for not being aware of all his father did for him; the author also senses the intensity of the poet’s feelings both in his repetition of the phrase ―what did I know,‖ and in the words that describe his fathers’ actions: ―love’s austere and lonely offices.‖

3. It is a rare beautiful sight: ―The woods are lovely, dark and deep‖, which might fit into the poet’s aesthetic view. That’s why the poet stops his horse to appreciate this wondrous scene. However, one can not indulge himself too much in a particular attraction, as he has miles to go before he goes to sleep, which might be interpreted as one has so many obligations to fulfill before his eternal sleep — death.

4. When we try to interpret a poem, we are supposed to pay sufficient attention to details and understand them as accurately as possible by virtue of intellectual capabilities and rational thinking. However, when we try to evaluate a poem, we are supposed to assess its literary quality and make a judgment about how good it is and how successfully it realizes its poetic intentions. Our consideration may involve an investigation into more complicated elements. So in a sense, we may say that interpreting a poem should come before evaluating the poem.

Memorable Quotes

Never durst poet touch a pen to write Until his ink were temper’d with Love’s sighs.

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— Shakespeare

Poetry, therefore, we will call Musical Thought.

— Carlyle

About Shakespeare and Carlyle

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English poet and

playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the \

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) was a Scottish satirical writer,

essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era. He called economics \science\wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.

Questions for Discussion

1) According to Shakespeare, what is the quality most essential for a poet and why? 2) Where do you think the beauty of poetry comes from?

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