Our Interpretive Sage is Somewehere, Buried Deep Inside

Reader-Response theory is a fascinating parallel to New Criticism. Where new critics strive to immortalize a text in time, isolated by itself without any individual opinionated interpretation, reader-response theorists seek to understand the value of the varying views that comes from each and every reader, perhaps at the cost of the exactness New Criticism brings forth. Everyone has different backgrounds, yet we are all united in the process of understanding a written work. Our own results from the Rosenblatt experiment prove that we each have an interpretive pattern that we follow unconsciously, and I found it interesting that whether or not we took the leap from the concrete and literal to the abstract and metaphorical, we all sensed that there was something duplicitous about Frost's poem. I feel like this shows the merit of Reader-Response Theory; New Criticism may appreciate and closely read into whatever text it studies, but it cannot account for the unavoidable thinking process every reader undergoes when they are set before a written work. Readers can reach far or go nowhere at all, but the text remains a jumping point for critical thought and questioning, which is truly the most any writing can ask for.

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