Quote Originally Posted by ronstew
And yet, my last English prof told me that the symbolism that I interpret is the symbolism that matters. That is, what the author intended is not as important as what I think the author intended.

My last English prof was full of something.
Yeah, I think that's their catch-all excuse for having created the "interpretation monster" in the first place; that way, they can justify liking something that everyone else thinks is crap, by saying "Everyone gets something different out of it."

Seriously though, I think this class isn't about interpreting specific works, so much as learning how to read a text in detail, to train us to be aware of these things like repetition and contrasts, not having to do the rigorous dissection I'm doing now, but to let the stuff register in our brains as we read, rather than just skiming the surface and judging the work on first impressions.