No no no.
In school in higher education we had to interpret poems.
I am definitely sure, that neither the author’s opinion or my opinion are relevant. It is only the teacher’s opinion that is relevant.
(Do I need the /s?)
Comment on Oppa oppa
Godort@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Death of the author is a thing.
Whatever meaning you derive from a piece of art personally is just as valid as the intended meaning
froh42@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Rhaedas@fedia.io 1 day ago
Be me, a literal reading scifi fan in 11th grade English having to read Jane Eyre and find all the damn symbolism. When all I saw was a 19th century romance novel. Blech.
froh42@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
Fortunately in English classes (I learned English at school) we read Macbeth. There’s a lot of layers to Shakespeare - for example a lot of allusions which you’ll only understand when you know about the time it was written in. And our English teacher dragged in a native speaker to help out with conversation, who was a student living in my town.
In German (my native language) however, we were presented a poem without not enough context about the author and had to answer “what’s the meaning of this”. Most of the German teachers I had were boring, lazy or both.
Your literature problem - I had that in German, Thomas Mann’s “Der Tod in Venedig”. Yeah, I as a teenager was so eager to read about the homoerotic thoughts of an older man traveling to Venice and lusting about a young boy. Yes, of course it’s symbolic but - fuuuuck me, really? Do I need to read that.
Mark Twain has written an essay about the “awful German Language” (I don’t agree). Amongst other things he complained about long sentences.
Ha! He know NOTHING! He had not seen the works of Thomas Mann. Thomas Mann must have been hugely intelligent. He managed to write a single sentence that is too long for a single fucking book page. With a random number of subclauses in between. Exploiting all the cleartext encryption mechanisms the German language allows! With the most boring content a teenager in the height of puberty can not relate to.
I still have a visceral hate for Thomas Mann. In my 40s I thought I’d give that book another chance. Nope. Still hate it.
Ah, soon I’m 40 years past school and I still get PTSD about it.
DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 23 hours ago
I’m not sure what level of sarcasm this operating on and if you think romances can’t have symbolism or not
Rhaedas@fedia.io 1 day ago
I was going to comment the same. The best art is where each person can derive their own meaning. Even better when you find new significance every time you see it.
danc4498@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
Is it a sign that I have no artistic talent whatsoever that I hate this concept?
Godort@lemmy.ca 20 hours ago
No, it just means that you believe that the artist’s intentions are more important than your own interpretation of a given work. It’s the other side of a philosophical debate about the meaning of “art” as a whole.
Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Don’t worry. The sculptor made sure you can’t misinterpret their work.
Image
DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 23 hours ago
Pack it up, “artists,” the solution to viewer interpretation has been found.