Suggests that the attempt by students to guess at the underlying sense of a poem is encouraged by teachers' pursuit of right and wrong answers, failure to respond to form and context, and presentation of poetry at a level of conceptualization beyond students' ability to respond. (KS)

Outlines a procedure for helping mature students learn the art of textual analysis. Notes the advantages of problem solving in small groups as a means of developing skills for literary analysis. (RL)

Discusses a study exploring the effect of the social context of two contrasting types of discussion--question and answer, and response centered--on students' interpretation of a literary work. Concludes that certain characteristics of the question and answer discussion may have inhibited students' interpretive responses. (JC)