Reading Poetry Through Poststructuralism: Personal Interpretations, Critical Perspectives, and Deconstructive Readings

 Language, Meaning, and Multiplicity: A Poststructuralist Study of Poetry

This blog has been prepared as part of a Lab Activity assigned by Prof. Dr. Dilip Barad, Department of English, M.K. Bhavnagar University. The purpose of this activity is to explore how literary texts generate multiple meanings when examined through different critical perspectives, particularly Poststructuralism and Deconstruction. Here sir's Research Article for Basic information: Click Here

The blog studies selected poems by William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, Dylan Thomas, and William Shakespeare. Each section begins with my own interpretation, followed by a comparison with critical insights from established literary resources. The poems are then examined through the ideas of Catherine Belsey on poststructuralism and Peter Barry on deconstruction, demonstrating how meaning is produced through language, signifiers, ambiguity, and textual instability rather than through a single fixed interpretation.

Through this blog, I aim to illustrate that literary texts remain open to diverse readings and that every interpretation reveals new possibilities of meaning. The activity has also helped me develop close-reading skills, engage with contemporary literary theory, and appreciate the richness and complexity of poetic language.

The four poems discussed in My blog are:

1. The Red Wheelbarrow — William Carlos Williams

2. In a Station of the Metro — Ezra Pound

3. A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London — Dylan Thomas

4. Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day? — William Shakespeare

Poem 1: The Red Wheelbarrow By William Carlos Williams

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

Here is different interpretations of the poem:

My Interpretation

When I read "The Red Wheelbarrow," I feel like I am standing in a quiet farmyard, looking at one simple scene. I see a red wheelbarrow, wet and shining after the rain, standing beside some white chickens. At first, I wonder why something so ordinary deserves a poem, but then I realize that is exactly the point. I understand that small, humble things like this wheelbarrow quietly support daily life and work, even if no one notices them. The short broken lines make me pause on each image, almost like I am looking through a camera lens, and I come away feeling that beauty and meaning can be found in the simplest, most overlooked objects around me.

Other search engine interpretation 

1. Poetry Foundation – Experimental Form and the Power of Concrete Images

The Poetry Foundation explains that The Red Wheelbarrow is an experimental Modernist poem that breaks traditional poetic conventions. It emphasizes Williams' famous principle, "No ideas but in things," meaning that abstract emotions and ideas should be expressed through concrete objects rather than direct explanation. The article argues that the poem's unusual line breaks, lack of punctuation, and simple language are deliberate artistic choices that force readers to pay close attention to the ordinary image of the wheelbarrow. Instead of telling readers what the wheelbarrow symbolizes, Williams allows the image itself to generate meaning. Thus, the poem becomes an example of Imagist poetry, where a single visual object communicates profound significance through precise observation rather than elaborate description.

2. LitCharts – Finding Beauty and Meaning in Ordinary Life

LitCharts interprets the poem as a celebration of everyday objects that people often overlook. It argues that the opening statement, "so much depends," immediately suggests that the wheelbarrow is essential, although Williams never specifies exactly what depends on it. This ambiguity invites readers to reflect on the hidden value of ordinary things. The article also highlights the poem's Imagist qualities, particularly its vivid visual imagery, contrasting colours (red wheelbarrow, white chickens), and concise language. According to LitCharts, the poem encourages readers to slow down and appreciate the simple moments of life, showing tenderness and respect for common objects that quietly support human existence.

3. Poem Analysis – Nature, Rural Life, and Human Dependence

Poem Analysis views the poem as a meditation on the relationship between human beings, nature, and labour. It argues that the wheelbarrow represents more than a farming tool it symbolizes the unnoticed foundations of everyday life. The rainwater and white chickens create a peaceful rural setting, while the wheelbarrow reflects the importance of manual work and humanity's dependence on simple tools. The article also discusses themes of nostalgia and sentimentality, suggesting that Williams honours rural life and reminds readers that civilization relies upon ordinary objects and ordinary workers. Through its minimal language, the poem demonstrates that great meaning can emerge from the smallest details of daily experience.

Interpretation of The Red Wheelbarrow from Catherine Belsey's Poststructuralism

According to Catherine Belsey, The Red Wheelbarrow demonstrates the primacy of the signifier, a key idea in poststructuralism. Although the poem appears to describe a simple farmyard scene, it does not merely reflect reality. Instead, the words "red," "wheelbarrow," "rain water," and "white chickens" create meaning through their arrangement, colours, rhythm, and visual pattern. The poem encourages readers to focus on language itself rather than on the actual objects it names.

Belsey also argues that the poem presents an idealized world rather than a realistic one. The bright red wheelbarrow and white chickens appear clean, pure, and almost unreal, resembling a child's picture book instead of a real farm with mud, shadows, and disorder. The short, broken lines slow the reader's attention and highlight each word as a signifier. Thus, the poem shows that meaning is produced by language and its structure, not by directly representing the external world, leaving readers free to construct multiple interpretations.

Interpretation (Peter Barry's Poststructuralist Reading)

At the verbal level, the poem appears simple, but the opening statement "so much depends" creates ambiguity because it never explains what actually depends on the wheelbarrow. This omission makes the meaning unstable. The words "red," "white," "rain," and "wheelbarrow" function as signifiers that suggest different associations rather than a single definite meaning.

At the textual level, the poem's broken line arrangement and fragmented syntax interrupt the normal flow of reading. The separation of words such as "wheel / barrow" and "rain / water" forces readers to focus on language itself rather than the objects. The poem also omits context there is no speaker, no story, and no explanation creating textual gaps that invite multiple interpretations instead of a unified meaning.

At the linguistic level, the poem questions whether language can truly represent reality. Although it seems to describe a real farmyard scene, the vivid colours, clean imagery, and rhythmic structure create an idealized, almost imaginary world. Thus, the wheelbarrow is not simply an object in reality but a product of language. A deconstructive reading concludes that the poem resists a single interpretation and demonstrates that meaning is always deferred, unstable, and produced through language rather than fixed by reference to the external world.

Poem 2: In a Station of the Metro By Ezra Pound

The apparition of these faces in the crowd:

Petals on a wet, black bough.

My Interpretation

When I read this poem for the first time, it feels like a quick snapshot, not a story. I imagine standing in a crowded metro station, and suddenly a few faces catch my eye in the crowd. They appear and disappear so fast that they feel like ghosts, that's what "apparition" means. Then the poet says these faces are like "petals on a wet, black bough," meaning the faces looked soft, pale, and pretty against the dark, crowded background, just like light petals stand out on a wet, black branch. There's no big story here, just one clear picture in my mind, and that's the whole point of the poem.

Other search engine interpretation 

1. LitCharts – The Power of Imagery and Modernist Innovation

LitCharts explains that In a Station of the Metro is a landmark of Modernist and Imagist poetry because it abandons traditional poetic conventions in favor of a single, powerful image. The poem presents two seemingly unrelated images a crowd of faces in a Paris metro station and petals on a wet, black branch without explicitly explaining their connection. According to the analysis, this juxtaposition invites readers to discover meaning for themselves rather than relying on the poet's interpretation. LitCharts also emphasizes that the poem captures a brief moment of perception, transforming an ordinary urban experience into an artistic vision. Its extreme brevity, lack of rhyme, and compressed language demonstrate Pound's goal of "making it new" by allowing images, rather than narration, to communicate emotion and meaning.

2. Poem Analysis – Imagism, Emotional Precision, and Economy of Language

Poem Analysis interprets the poem as the finest example of Imagism, highlighting Pound's commitment to precision and economy of language. The article explains that Pound originally wrote a much longer poem but reduced it to only fourteen words to preserve the intensity of the experience while eliminating unnecessary description. Rather than narrating an event, the poem presents a direct emotional and visual impression through two carefully chosen images. The faces in the metro are not literally petals; instead, the comparison reveals their delicate, fleeting beauty amid the darkness of the urban environment. The article argues that the poem illustrates how a single image can convey complex emotions, proving that poetry can achieve profound meaning through simplicity rather than elaborate expression.

3. AllPoetry – Transience, Beauty, and Human Experience

AllPoetry focuses on the poem's central themes of transience, beauty, and the fleeting nature of human life. It explains that the faces appearing briefly in the crowded metro resemble flower petals that exist only for a moment before disappearing. The contrast between the industrial setting of the subway and the natural image of blossoms creates a sense of unexpected beauty within modern urban life. The analysis suggests that Pound encourages readers to recognize moments of grace and individuality even in crowded, impersonal environments. By presenting only two images without explanation, the poem invites multiple interpretations and demonstrates how ordinary experiences can possess deep emotional and aesthetic significance.

Interpretation of In a Station of the Metro according to Catherine Belsey's Poststructuralism

According to Catherine Belsey, In a Station of the Metro exemplifies the primacy of the signifier, a central idea in poststructuralism. The poem does not simply describe people in a metro station; instead, it creates meaning through the relationship between the signifiers "faces," "apparition," "petals," and "wet, black bough." The comparison between faces and petals is not based on literal reality but on the associations produced by language. The word "apparition" transforms ordinary faces into ghostly, fleeting images, while "petals" suggest delicacy, beauty, and vulnerability. These meanings emerge from the interaction of the signifiers rather than from any direct reference to the external world.

Belsey argues that the poem isolates these images from the "noise" of everyday reality. Instead of presenting an actual metro station filled with movement and sound, the poem offers only two carefully selected images that exist within language. The contrast between the crowded station and the fragile petals, the dark bough and the pale faces, creates meaning through difference. The poem's two-line structure, rhythm, white space, and near-rhymes also contribute to its effect, showing that poetic form itself generates meaning. Thus, the poem demonstrates that language does not merely reflect reality; it constructs it. The haunting beauty of the poem arises from the play of signifiers, making meaning a product of language rather than a simple representation of the world.

Deconstructive Interpretation of In a Station of the Metro (Based on Peter Barry's Beginning Theory)

Peter Barry explains that a deconstructive reading does not search for a single, unified meaning. Instead, it reveals contradictions, ambiguities, gaps, and the instability of language. Applying Barry's three-stage method to Pound's poem produces the following interpretation.

1. Verbal Stage (Paradoxes and Contradictions)

The poem begins with the phrase "The apparition of these faces in the crowd." The word "apparition" normally refers to a ghost or spirit, yet the faces belong to living people in a metro station. Thus, the faces are presented as both present and absent, real and unreal, creating a verbal paradox. Likewise, the comparison of faces with petals is unexpected. Human beings are transformed into flowers, suggesting that identity is unstable and meaning is produced through metaphor rather than literal description.

2. Textual Stage (Breaks, Omissions, and Multiple Meanings)

The poem consists of only two lines with no explanation, narrative, or speaker. It does not tell us who the people are, why they are compared to petals, or what the comparison ultimately means. These omissions create textual gaps that the reader must fill. There is also a sudden shift from the urban world of the metro crowd to the natural image of a wet, black bough. Instead of creating a unified meaning, this abrupt transition produces multiple interpretations. The poem remains fragmented, showing textual disunity rather than coherence.

3. Linguistic Stage (Language Questions Reality)

At the linguistic level, the poem demonstrates that language does not simply reflect reality but constructs it. The image of "petals on a wet, black bough" does not describe the metro literally; it is created through language. The signifiers "apparition," "faces," "petals," and "bough" continually generate new associations without arriving at one fixed meaning. The poem therefore exposes the instability of language, where meaning is always deferred and open to different readings.

Poem 3: "A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London" – Dylan Thomas

Never until the mankind making

Bird beast and flower

Fathering and all humbling darkness

Tells with silence the last light breaking

And the still hour

Is come of the sea tumbling in harness

     

And I must enter again the round

Zion of the water bead

And the synagogue of the ear of corn

Shall I let pray the shadow of a sound

Or sow my salt seed

In the least valley of sackcloth to mourn

     

The majesty and burning of the child's death.

I shall not murder

The mankind of her going with a grave truth

Nor blaspheme down the stations of the breath

With any further

Elegy of innocence and youth.

     

Deep with the first dead lies London's daughter,

Robed in the long friends,

The grains beyond age, the dark veins of her mother,

Secret by the unmourning water

Of the riding Thames.

After the first death, there is no other.

My Interpretation

When I read this poem, I feel the poet refusing to mourn in the usual way, not until the world itself ends. I sense deep respect in this refusal, he feels that ordinary tears and elegies would make the child's death seem smaller than it truly is. As I read on, I picture her body returning to earth and water, becoming part of nature and joining all those who died before her. The final line, "After the first death, there is no other," gives me a strange comfort, as if once we truly accept death, we don't need to grieve each one separately, because all death is, in some deep sense, one.

Other search engine interpretation 

1. LitCharts – Mourning Through Silence Rather Than Words

LitCharts interprets the poem as an unconventional elegy that refuses traditional expressions of grief. Instead of lamenting the death of a child killed during the London Blitz in World War II, the speaker chooses silence because ordinary mourning cannot capture the enormity of such a loss. The analysis argues that the refusal to mourn is not emotional detachment but a profound act of respect. Thomas rejects sentimental elegies, prayers, and moral lessons because they would diminish the "majesty" of the child's death. LitCharts also explains that the poem links the child's death to the universal cycles of nature, suggesting that death is part of a larger, eternal order rather than simply a tragic ending.

2. AllPoetry – The Sacredness of Death and the Limits of Human Grief

AllPoetry emphasizes the philosophical and spiritual dimensions of the poem. It argues that Thomas refuses to mourn because human grief can become an act of arrogance, attempting to explain or possess a death that ultimately belongs to something greater than humanity. The analysis suggests that conventional mourning may reduce the child's death to sentimentality, whereas Thomas preserves its sacred mystery by remaining silent. Death is presented not merely as destruction but as a return to the eternal forces of nature, where the child becomes part of the continuous cycle of existence. Thus, the poem celebrates the dignity and transcendence of life instead of focusing solely on personal sorrow.

3. Poem Analysis – Death as Universal Transformation

Poem Analysis views the poem as an exploration of death, memory, and universal continuity. It explains that the speaker postpones mourning until his own death because only then can he truly understand the child's fate. The article highlights Thomas's rich religious and natural imagery such as Zion, the synagogue, water, grain, and darkness to show that life and death are interconnected. Rather than treating the child's death as an isolated wartime tragedy, the poem presents it as part of the eternal cycle of creation, destruction, and rebirth. According to the analysis, Thomas transforms an individual loss into a meditation on the shared destiny of all humanity.

Interpretation of A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London according to Catherine Belsey's Poststructuralism

According to Catherine Belsey, this poem demonstrates the primacy of the signifier, where language produces meaning instead of merely reflecting reality. Although the poem is about the death of a child during war, it does not present a realistic account of the event. Instead, it creates meaning through powerful signifiers such as "darkness," "Zion," "synagogue," "silence," "London's daughter," and "the first death." These words generate religious, mythical, and symbolic associations that move the reader away from the actual historical event. The child is transformed into a universal symbol rather than remaining an individual victim.

Belsey argues that the poem isolates these images from the ordinary world and allows them to interact within language. The paradoxical expressions such as "Fathering and all humbling darkness," "shadow of a sound," and "the first death" produce meanings that cannot be reduced to literal reference. The poem's rhythm, repetition, biblical imagery, and musical sound patterns also contribute to meaning independently of dictionary definitions. Following Julia Kristeva's idea of the semiotic, these rhythmic and sonic qualities evoke emotional and unconscious responses beyond rational explanation.

Thus, the poem does not simply mourn a dead child; it constructs a poetic world in which death, nature, religion, and language become interconnected through signifiers. Meaning arises from the relationships among these words rather than from direct reference to historical reality. From Belsey's poststructuralist perspective, the poem illustrates that poetry creates reality through language, and its significance lies in the play of signifiers rather than in representing the external world faithfully.

Deconstructive Interpretation of A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London according to Peter Barry's Beginning Theory

Peter Barry uses this poem as a model to explain deconstruction, arguing that a text does not possess one fixed meaning but contains contradictions, gaps, and linguistic instability. His method consists of three stages: verbal, textual, and linguistic.

1. Verbal Stage (Contradictions and Paradoxes)

At the verbal level, the poem contains several paradoxes that undermine its apparent meaning. The final line, "After the first death, there is no other," contradicts itself because the phrase "first death" logically implies that there should be a second or third death. Similarly, "Never until" combines two opposing ideas, while "Fathering and all humbling darkness" reverses the usual opposition between light and darkness, presenting darkness as the source of life rather than death. These contradictions reveal the instability of language and show that meaning cannot remain fixed.

2. Textual Stage (Shifts, Omissions, and Disunity)

At the textual level, Barry identifies several shifts that prevent the poem from achieving unity. The first two stanzas move to a mythical and cosmic time, imagining creation and the end of the world. The third stanza suddenly shifts to the present moment of the child's death, while the final stanza moves to a historical and symbolic vision of London and the Thames. These changes in time, perspective, and focus create textual discontinuity rather than coherence. The poem also omits important information: it never clearly explains why the speaker refuses to mourn, even though the poem itself becomes an act of mourning. These absences encourage multiple interpretations instead of one stable meaning.

3. Linguistic Stage (Language Undermines Itself)

At the linguistic level, the poem questions the reliability of language itself. The speaker declares, "I shall not murder / The mankind of her going with a grave truth," rejecting conventional elegiac language. However, the poem immediately uses elevated, symbolic expressions such as "London's daughter" and "the first dead," which are themselves traditional poetic devices. Thus, the poem does exactly what it claims it will not do. According to Barry, the speaker identifies the limitations of language but cannot escape them, showing that language always traps the writer within its own conventions.

Poem 4: Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? By William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;

Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

   So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

My Interpretation

When I read this poem, I feel the poet is comparing someone he loves to a summer's day, but then quickly decides summer isn't good enough for them. I notice him listing summer's flaws, sometimes the wind is too rough, sometimes the sun is too hot, sometimes it's cloudy, and it never lasts long. I understand he's saying his loved one is better than all of that, more steady and more lovely. Then I feel his tone become confident and almost proud, he promises that this person's beauty won't fade like summer's does, and that even death won't be able to take it away. By the end, I realize why, he believes his poem itself will live forever, and as long as people keep reading it, his loved one will stay beautiful and alive through these very words.

Other search engine interpretation 

1. LitCharts – Summary and Analysis

LitCharts interprets Sonnet 18 as a meditation on the relationship between beauty, time, and poetry. The analysis explains that the speaker initially considers comparing the beloved to a summer's day but immediately rejects the comparison because summer itself is imperfect it is too brief, sometimes too hot, and often spoiled by rough winds or clouds. According to LitCharts, Shakespeare's real argument is that the beloved possesses a beauty that surpasses nature because it will never fade through the power of poetic language. The guide also pays close attention to the poem's structure, noting the volta (turn) in the third quatrain where the focus shifts from nature's mortality to the immortality granted by verse. Rather than reading the poem as a simple love poem, LitCharts argues that it celebrates the enduring power of literature, suggesting that art can defeat the destructive effects of time and preserve beauty forever.

2. AllPoetry – Summary and Analysis

AllPoetry primarily presents the poem itself and encourages readers to appreciate its lyrical beauty and emotional appeal. The emphasis is on Shakespeare's masterful use of imagery and language, especially the contrast between the changing qualities of summer and the beloved's lasting beauty. Readers are invited to recognize the poem as one of the finest examples of romantic expression, where natural imagery such as rough winds, the sun, and fading flowers serves to highlight the beloved's superiority. Although the site provides less detailed critical commentary than LitCharts or Poem Analysis, it implicitly portrays the sonnet as a timeless declaration of admiration and love. The poem's famous closing couplet reinforces the idea that the beloved achieves immortality because future generations will continue reading these lines, allowing poetry to preserve beauty beyond physical life.

3. Poem Analysis – Summary and Analysis

Poem Analysis presents Sonnet 18 as both a love poem and a philosophical reflection on mortality and artistic permanence. The guide explains that Shakespeare deliberately begins with a conventional comparison but quickly overturns it by showing that summer is unstable and temporary. Instead, the beloved's "eternal summer" symbolizes an ideal beauty untouched by age or death. The analysis also explores Shakespeare's literary techniques, including metaphor, personification, imagery, and symbolism, demonstrating how each contributes to the central theme. Particular attention is given to the final couplet, where the poem reveals its deepest message: poetry possesses the extraordinary ability to grant symbolic immortality. Poem Analysis therefore argues that the sonnet is not merely praising a person but also celebrating the creative power of poetry itself, which allows human beauty and memory to outlive time.

Interpretation of Sonnet 18 according to Catherine Belsey's Poststructuralism

According to Catherine Belsey, Sonnet 18 illustrates the primacy of the signifier, showing that language creates meaning rather than merely describing reality. At first, the poem appears to compare the beloved to a summer's day, but it quickly moves beyond literal comparison. Signifiers such as "summer," "eye of heaven," "eternal summer," "death," and "eternal lines" generate symbolic meanings that are not tied to actual seasons or physical beauty. For example, "summer" comes to signify youth, beauty, and perfection, while "eternal lines" refer both to the lines of the poem and to the promise of immortality through language. Meaning therefore arises from the interaction of these signifiers rather than from direct reference to the external world.

Belsey also argues that poetry isolates images from ordinary reality and allows language to create its own world. The poem contrasts the temporary nature of real summer with its rough winds, fading beauty, and changing seasons with the permanence of the beloved preserved in poetry. The beloved does not become immortal because of physical existence but because of the poetic signifiers that continue to generate meaning for readers. The rhythm, rhyme, and repeated references to summer, beauty, and eternity reinforce this effect. Thus, from a poststructuralist perspective, the sonnet demonstrates that immortality is produced by language itself. The beloved survives not in the real world but within the network of signifiers created by the poem, proving Belsey's claim that literature constructs meaning through language rather than simply reflecting reality.

Deconstructive Interpretation of Sonnet 18 according to Peter Barry's Beginning Theory

Using Peter Barry's three-stage model of deconstruction (verbal, textual, and linguistic), Sonnet 18 can be read as a poem that challenges its own claims and reveals the instability of language rather than a single fixed meaning.

1. Verbal Stage (Paradoxes and Contradictions)

At the verbal level, the poem contains several contradictions. The speaker claims that the beloved's "eternal summer shall not fade", yet all beauty is previously described as temporary: "every fair from fair sometime declines." The poem also declares that death cannot claim the beloved because they will live in "eternal lines." This creates a paradox: although human beings are mortal, the poem insists that poetry can overcome death. Thus, the language simultaneously accepts mortality and denies it, revealing the instability of its own claims.

2. Textual Stage (Shifts, Contrasts, and Omissions)

At the textual level, the poem shifts from describing the natural world to celebrating the power of poetry. The first eight lines emphasize the impermanence of summer, while the final six lines suddenly promise eternal beauty through verse. This shift from nature to art, time to eternity, and mortality to immortality disrupts textual unity. The poem also leaves important questions unanswered. We never learn who the beloved is or whether poetry can truly grant eternal life. These omissions prevent the poem from settling into one definite meaning and encourage multiple interpretations.

3. Linguistic Stage (Language Questions Itself)

At the linguistic level, the poem depends entirely on language to prove its central claim. The final couplet states:

"So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."

The word "this" refers to the poem itself. The speaker claims that language can defeat time and death, but this immortality exists only within language. The poem attempts to prove the power of poetry by using poetry itself, making its argument self-referential. From a deconstructive perspective, this exposes the limits of language: the beloved survives only as a textual construct, not as a physical reality. The poem therefore both celebrates and questions the ability of language to preserve truth and permanence.

References:

• Barad, Dilip. “Deconstructive Analysis of Ezra Pound’s ‘In a Station of the Metro’ and William Carlos Williams’s ‘The Red Wheelbarrow.’” ResearchGate, July 2024, https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.35052.37768.

• ---. “Deconstructive Reading of Sonnet 18.” YouTube, uploaded by DoE-MKBU, 12 July 2020, youtu.be/ohY-w4cMhRM. 

• Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester UP, 2002.

• Belsey, Catherine. Poststructuralism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford UP, 2022.

• Pound, Ezra. “In a Station of the Metro.” Poetry Foundation, Apr. 1913, www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12675/in-a-station-of-the-metro. 

• Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” Poetry Foundation, 1609, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45087/sonnet-18-shall-i-compare-thee-to-a-summers-day. 

• Thomas, Dylan. “A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London.” Academy of American Poets, 1945, poets.org/poem/refusal-mourn-death-fire-child-london. 

• Williams, William Carlos. “The Red Wheelbarrow.” Poetry Foundation, 1923, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45502/the-red-wheelbarrow. 

Thank You!!