Reading the contemporary poem: an illustrated method

This article offers an approach to interpreting contemporary poetry, which is often found difficult by students because of the absence of traditional markers. The approach proceeds through loosely structured steps, in which the poem is analyzed as written construct and compact statement. In interpretation, the layered structures of syntactical and semantic ambiguity, the diction, and the imagery of the poem are all examined in turn, with some necessary overlap between each part. Initial attention to the title and an oral reading of the poem are seen as ways to maximize potential readings. A poem by the American poet, Gary Snyder, “Hymn to the Goddess San Francisco, 2” is used as an illustration of the method.