Yes, I would, for one simple reason that has stuck with me since my sophomore year at High School. We were studying literature and being required to critique some poetry and explain what we thought the poet was trying to convey. A small plurality of the class had arrived at generally similar conclusions, but there was also a great of variety among the conclusions reached by the remainder of the class. I recall raising my hand and asking, "What did the poet himself ever say or discuss to clarify what was going through his head at the time?" What I really wanted to know was, why should there be such diversity as to meaning? Isn't the point of writing to clearly express a thought, code it into language, transmit it to another, and expect it to be decoded back into a thought roughly equal to the original thought? If so, what did the poet want to transmit? The teacher's answer was that good poetry is supposed to be open to interpretation, leaving it to the reader to decide what the poet meant. I found -- and still find -- this opinion to be offensive. As a writer, I do NOT want readers around the world deciding FOR ME what I meant to say. If my writing is that vague, then I don't deserve to be earning income from sales of writing samples. Therefore, if there is to be a critical discussion of my work, I'd like to be a contributing member of that discussion.
Same question to the next person to post. I'd like to hear thoughtful presentations other points of view.
