How poetry interpretations are marked
The article by Perrine discusses to what extent interpretation of poems can be termed as right or wrong. According to the article, a poem may have various interpretations but there will always be one interpretation that reappears severally in the classroom setting. The article further describes that poems are like ink blots on the Rorschach personality test whereby there are no right or wrong interpretation. The interpretations differ more or less widely from a statistical norm. In the classroom setting teachers use this variation to determine the correctness of poetry interpretation whereby those students whose interpretation varies widely from the norm may be deemed to have failed while those whose interpretation is closer to the norm pass the test.
Perrine further describes that interpretation of poetry is judged according to two criteria. First, the poem must be interpreted correctly by accounting satisfactorily for any detail in the poem. If the interpretation is contradicted by any detail in the poem then it is wrong. Secondly, if a poem has more than one interpretation then the best interpretation which is the most economical in terms of relying on the fewest assumptions that are not grounded in the poem is adopted.
As described by Perrine, it is necessary to provide clear criteria for the judgment of interpretation of poems since poetry just like any other works of art is highly subjective and their interpretation is highly reliant on the creativity and as well as the frame of mind of the reader. Without the criteria for evaluating the correctness of poetry interpretation then it would be very difficult to assess the learning of poetry students in the classroom setting. The article sheds light on techniques used by tutors to effectively determine the interpretation capabilities of their students,