Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Preface and "True Meaning"
Often, when I tell people about what I'm studying, they immediately begin complaining about that one English teacher in high school who bugged them all about "what the author really meant here." For once, with Wordsworth's preface, this is something that we can actually revert to when we are lost on what a poem or a passage "really means." I am of the firm belief that more often than not, people (myself included) tend to read further into something than is actually necessary. While we may glean new and exciting information or theories about our subject, it may not always be pertinent to the author's original intent. For once, that engineer that lives a few doors down could be right in saying, "What if the author just meant exactly what he said?" With Wordsworth's Preface, we have so much more insight than with most other major works and it allows us to move in a more positive direction than usual.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree with your feelings about insight into Wordsworth's feelings. It is very common in English classes for the professors to always want reasons and deeper meanings found in everything we read. Sometimes I get frustrated because what I think may be considered wrong even though no one knows the true answer. Wordsworth is laying out his points and intentions for the readers which makes the question of meaning much easier to understand and explain.
ReplyDelete