What the author meant

H mm. Let's say I hate literature. Not literature itself, but the teachers who teach them. Take this for example:-

Author: The curtains were blue.

What the teachers say: The author is trying to convey his sad emotions by telling the curtains were blue. If this were a play, you could clearly see the tears streaming down his cheeks, playing ominous music in the background. This beauty in the words are not noticed by all, and this is true, because when this was first published, no one read it. (Teacher sighs). And this was why the author suicided right after that.

What the author actually meant: The curtains were blue.

And to be honest, the author probably would have suicided after reading this.

Let's take some more examples.

Example 1 :-

Author: The blue ocean's waves were still.

What I see: Okay, so there are no waves in the ocean that's why it's still.

What my teacher sees: The author is telling that today is a solemn day, and no one is out and in the waters, playing and splashing at each other, laughing happily.

What the author really meant: The ocean was really still.

Let's look at some more examples, shall we?

Example 2:-

Author: I love ravens.

What I see: Ok, wow ravens are cool.

What the teacher think it means: The ravens represent despair, remorse, and the author's conscious, and all the regret he has. He has grown to become attached to that, thus telling he loves ravens.

Author: pLeAse LeAve mE I rEaLly LoVe rAvEnS.

Ok, now lets take a full poem. I will give out the original version, what I think it means, and what the teacher think it means.

There will come soft rains- Sara Teasdale

There will come soft rain and the smell of the ground,

And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,

And wild plum trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire,

Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one

Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,

If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn

Would scarcely know that we were gone.

What I think it means:-

The smell of rain is epic.

Some birds will be circling

frogs will sing at night

plum trees will be white

robins have red feathers

And they will be whistling somewhere

No one gives a damn about wars

or mankind

Even Spring doesn't care.

What teacher think it means:-

There Will Come Soft Rains” by Sara Teasdale describes the Earth as if would be without humankind and the lack of regard that Nature and Spring hold for human presence.

Stanza 1

In the first of Teasdale’s rhyming couplets the narrator describes a natural moment in which everything will be aligned and rejuvenated. There will come during the day a “soft rain.” This rain will bring out all of the smells in the ground. The leaves and mud and all manner of creatures will be turned over and their scent, that of earth, death, and life will fill the air. In this moment there will also be birds overhead. These birds, in particular swallows, will be circling, watching, and making “their shimmering sound.” All of these elements are converging to form a perfect moment of piece. At this point the reader does not yet know why this moment is so special, or why it will become so.

Stanza 2

In the second couple Teasdale’s speaker provides more details about the moments of this day. The day has come to night, but the night is not empty. The air is filled with the sounds of “frogs…singing.” They are in their “pools,” in the darkness, singing for the world and one another. To create contrast, and emphasize the purely natural beauty of this moment Teasdale mentions the “wild plum trees.” These trees are shining a bright, “tremulous,” or shivering, “white.” The color is so profound and pure that the trees seem to shake with it.

Stanza 3

She continues on with another rhyming set of lines that gives more color to the moment. There are other birds in this scene, “Robins.” These brightly colored creatures are said to “wear their feathery fire.” They are donned in their brightest reds and are so vibrant that they appear to be on fire. It is clear that the colors of this scene are important to the speaker. She wants the reader to see these moments as vibrant, perhaps fleeting scenes of peace. The robins are comfortable, they are completely at ease and sit on “a low fence-wire” “Whistling” whatever they please. They are without direction and give in to their “whims.” This is the first mention of anything man made, one might ask, where are the people in this environment?

Stanza 4

In the second half of There Will Come Soft Rains the speaker turns to the main point. She refers back to the robins, sparrows, frogs and all the natural elements she has mentioned, saying that none of them will ever know if there is a war on. Their lives will not be touched or disturbed by the choices of humankind. Not only will they not know if the planet is at war, they will not notice when it is done. They have so little regard for the actions of humans they will not “care at last when it is done.”

Stanza 5

In coming to the main conclusion of her poem Teasdale says that these creatures, and parts of the Earth, can find in themselves no reason to “mind” if this metaphorical war brought about the end of humankind. So little are their lives impacted, by people that they would not even notice if the whole human population was to disappear at once, because of war or some other means. Teasdale is making this point in an effort to remind the reader of his or her place in the world. She is of the belief that humankind does not own the planet. The Earth is not here for human consumption or as a catalyst for human life. It can, and will happily, go on without “mankind” interfering. These couplets are meant to provoke the reader into thinking more deeply about the world around them and seeing it for what it is, not for what it can provide the human race.

Stanza 6

In the last stanza of the poem the speaker pulls back to an even greater force, “Spring.” She uses spring here as a representation for the birth of new life, and the thriving of the current plants and animals on the planet. She, “Spring,” is the overarching category that everything fits into. Teasdale’s speaker tells the reader that if “Spring,” this great and powerful living force, “woke at dawn” to a world without human beings in it, she would “scarcely know that we were gone.” Not only would she not care, she would not even be triggered enough to notice.

And remember two things:

I explained the poem in less number of words than even the poet used.

And each stanza is two lines.