A Set Of Instructions To Be Used When Reading A Poem Summary

The poem “A Set of Instructions To Be Used When Reading A Poem” by Glen Colquhoun is literally as what the title says, a set of instructions of how the author believes the reader should read a poem. Contrary to the poem’s title to “read” a poem, the intent of the poem is not to give instructions on how to physically look and read the words on the paper but instruct the reader on how to interpret the meaning of the poem so that it reflects the reader’s conception of the world, life, etc. However, the instructions are not plainly given, but through a series of instructions that would make the reader question the sanity of the author. The intent of this paper is to argue that the goal of Colquhoun’s poem is to provoke readers to start interpreting
the meaning of poems beyond its literal definition. This paper will be analyzing the poet’s intention of showing how a poem can have an infinite different interpretations and the poetic devices the author used in order to teach the reader how to “read” a poem.

Colquhoun starts by distinguishing a poem from paper and ink. The instruction “carefully lift the poem out of its paper” (Colquhoun) gives the poem a soul like appearance being extracted from the body which is the paper and ink. Colquhoun establishes that the words of the poem does not matter as that is not what a poem is, but the idea that the reader gets out from the words is the poem. The poem, given the characteristics of an entity, is an idea, or a concept or a point of view that the author is trying to convey. However this “entity” is not something that remains constant. Steps 12 and 13 on the instructions tells the reader to recite the poem in various conditions and scenarios. While doing this does not change the words of the poem, it may change the way that the reader understands the poem. Colquhoun is trying to point out that multiple meanings can be drawn from the same words. Similar to Nathan Bransford’s argument in his paper “Words Have the Power We Give Them,” Colquhoun argues that poems receive its power from the people giving it value. Bransford’s article argues that words are mere noises created by our vocal chords. However these “noises” are given significance when a group of people give certain combinations of noises definitions. Ultimately words are nothing more than noises yet it had gained significance when people give it meaning. By using Bransford’s article as a paradigm and replacing “words” to “poems,” Bransford’s argument stands as a comparable interpretation and help us understand Colquhoun’s understanding of how poems should be read. Just like words are given power by the people, poems also receiving its power when people give it meaning.

A poem has two meanings, “what the author meant to convey, and what the reader gets out of the words” (Sankovtich).
Understanding what the author of a poem describes and explain is often the extent of the reader’s connection to the poems but Colquhoun argues that readers should add to the meaning of the poem by making the poem personalized for the reader. In the final step “now the poem belongs to you,” (IBID) Colquhoun is stating that the end goal after reading a poem is personalizing the poem so that there is a special bond formed that is only shared between the reader and the poem. In order to reach the end goal, Colquhoun instructs the reader to “put the poem into your mouth” (IBID) which can be viewed as a sexual behavior which are typically shared between two intimate partners. While it is not instructing the reader to literally put the poem into the reader’s mouth, it is instructing to treat the poem as if it is the reader’s significant partner and form a deep connection with the poem by letting the poem see the reader at when they’re at their most vulnerable, their fears and secrets. To help personalize the poem, steps 4, 5 and 6 of the instructions asks the reader about the characteristics of the poem. By asking the reader about the poem’s characteristics, it is suggesting that poems are experienced differently by each person. Through these subtle hints, Colquhoun indicates that there is much more to reading poems than understanding the author’s message. Colquhoun’s
instructions to the readers is how to change the meaning of the poem so that it personalized to the reader.

There is irony to “A Set of Instructions To Be Used When Reading A Poem” as it is a poem teaching how to read poems. Especially with the absurd instructions, the reader would not be able to “read” the poem unless the reader already knows how. Colquhoun capitalizes on this irony and uses it as his main teaching tool. The poem is composed completely of figurative instructions and metaphors where by following any of Colquhoun’s instructions will not make the reader any better at understanding poems than they are now. The whole point of Colquhoun’s instructions is to teach the reader to avoid understanding the poem by the definitions of the words used in the poem but by how the words mean to the reader. Colquhoun uses figurative speech so that the poem does not have a clear conception. Without a clear conception the reader is forced to decode the poem and come up with an explanation of what they think the author’s message is. The reader, trying to make sense of Colquhoun’s instructions interprets the instructions in a way that makes sense to them. By getting the reader to interpret the meaning of the instructions Colquhoun has gotten the reader to stop reading poems in its literal, singular meaning state and employ the reader’s creativity to make sense of the poem. Colquhoun does not teach through explicate explanation, but by guiding the reader to read the instructions in the way he believes poems should be read.

In conclusion, Colquhoun’s poem “A Set of Instructions To Be Used When Reading A Poem” teaches the reader how to analyze the meaning of the poem and draw from the poem a meaning that is exclusive to the reader.
Colquhoun first establishes that a poem is different from the words that create the poems. Using the analogy of a soul, Colquhoun shows that the true essence of a poem is the meaning that it conveys and that the physical form of paper and ink of a poem would not have any significance without the reader’s interpretation. Colquhoun covertly suggests that words can have two different meaning; the definitional meaning and the meaning the reader gives the word. When reading poems, Colquhoun argues that the reader should interpret the the poem’s message so that the message pertains to the reader. Colquhoun exploits the irony of using a poem to teach how to understand poems by writing the poem in complete metaphors and figurative speech. Colquhoun forces the reader to use their analytical and interpretational skill to understand the poem. Through all these hints and ideas that I formed from reading “A Set of Instructions To Be Used When Reading A Poem,” I interpreted that Colquhoun’s aim was to show the reader that poetry is a more than just a description or a story, it is a message to the soul and it can only be heard when the reader let it influence him or her in all aspect of their
life.