The intentional fallacy. Does the author's intention really matter? I think in some cases it does help to know what the author was thinking and going through when they wrote the poem. You can maybe get one interpretation from just looking at the poem itself, but sometimes knowing where the poet was at helps to bring a new interpretation or deepens the one we already had. I think that having as many layers as possible in a poem is what makes a poem interesting, and having the author's intention adds another layer.
Of course, Wimsatt and Beardsley would greatly disagree with me. For them and other Formalists it is about the poem itself. The author's intention doesn't matter because if the author did their job successfully then we would be able to figure out their intention in the poem itself. They say we should not assign the words of a poem as coming directly from the poets mouth, but from the dramatic speaker. This reminds me of my high school English teacher who would always mark off points in our essays for writing that "the poet says" when analyzing poetry instead of "the speaker of the poem says." That always annoyed me because I was like, "Well the poet wrote the poem...." Maybe a good compromise would be "the poet had the speaker of the poem say..." but that could get long and complicated.... I don't know. I'm glad I'm not in high school anymore.
I definitely think my high school English teacher ascribed to formalist views because she would just hand us a poem with no explanation, no dates as to when it was written and say "interpret this." Now, I was not the most clever of students when it came to interpreting poetry (and still am not), but I would try to write what I thought each line was saying even though I didn't know half the words. I was always frustrated because I would come to a line and be like "if this poem was written in last century I would think it would be referring to this, but if it was written last year I would think it was referring to that." I was a very confused child, and usually I picked the wrong interpretation and always got the 6 out of 9 points. (She always used the 9 point scale for grading essays and it bugged me to no end).
Now, I don't think that all poems should be written in a romantic style as an outpouring of emotions inexplicably linked to the poet, but when poetry is written like that I see the value in knowing a little bit about the poet. I also see value in looking at poetry as a craft or an art form rather than just a means of expressing inner most feelings. But ultimately I see value in the postmodern view of situatedness, where a person has a certain way of seeing things and that view will ultimately find its way into their work or into their interpretations of poems.
Of course, Wimsatt and Beardsley would greatly disagree with me. For them and other Formalists it is about the poem itself. The author's intention doesn't matter because if the author did their job successfully then we would be able to figure out their intention in the poem itself. They say we should not assign the words of a poem as coming directly from the poets mouth, but from the dramatic speaker. This reminds me of my high school English teacher who would always mark off points in our essays for writing that "the poet says" when analyzing poetry instead of "the speaker of the poem says." That always annoyed me because I was like, "Well the poet wrote the poem...." Maybe a good compromise would be "the poet had the speaker of the poem say..." but that could get long and complicated.... I don't know. I'm glad I'm not in high school anymore.
I definitely think my high school English teacher ascribed to formalist views because she would just hand us a poem with no explanation, no dates as to when it was written and say "interpret this." Now, I was not the most clever of students when it came to interpreting poetry (and still am not), but I would try to write what I thought each line was saying even though I didn't know half the words. I was always frustrated because I would come to a line and be like "if this poem was written in last century I would think it would be referring to this, but if it was written last year I would think it was referring to that." I was a very confused child, and usually I picked the wrong interpretation and always got the 6 out of 9 points. (She always used the 9 point scale for grading essays and it bugged me to no end).
Now, I don't think that all poems should be written in a romantic style as an outpouring of emotions inexplicably linked to the poet, but when poetry is written like that I see the value in knowing a little bit about the poet. I also see value in looking at poetry as a craft or an art form rather than just a means of expressing inner most feelings. But ultimately I see value in the postmodern view of situatedness, where a person has a certain way of seeing things and that view will ultimately find its way into their work or into their interpretations of poems.
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