"To read a poem is to hear it with our eyes; to hear it is to see it with our ears," - Octavio Paz. Poems and other literary works speak in many ways--- it all depends on the readers point of view. In addition, an important factor is the way the work is structured. Authors have many choices to make when designing a work of literature to convey their ideas to the reader. Several elements play a critical role in creating understanding and shaping meaning in the reader's mind. An author's deliberate choice of words, details and use of imagery help them develop ideas in the reader's mind. Ultimately, this leads to the creation of meaning. An author's word choice plays a huge role in developing ideas, creating understanding, and shaping meaning. The author's specific word choice creates a more clear message to the reader. For instance, in "Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes he uses words like "fester," "sags," "rotten," and "explode." These create negative connotations. From this negative word choice the reader can infer that Hughes does not want them to let a dream defer. Hughes' message is clear that nothing good will come from letting a dream defer. Here word choice is an important factor to the reader's interpretation of the …show more content…
The author's use of imagery gives him the ability to illustrate the same visual of his poem in his mind, to the reader's mind. For example, in "My Papa's Waltz" Theodore Roethke wrote "At every step you missed my right ear scraped a buckle." This creates the image of a small boy dancing with his uncoordinated father. He is causing the boy to scrape his ear on his belt buckle from the rough "waltzing". The imagery helps the reader have a clearer understanding of what is happening in the poem. Imagery is an extremely powerful tool to the author when connecting to the reader through their