A Thesis That Holds Two Readings
An interpretation can be about the not-choosing
- A thesis expresses an interpretation and requires a defense.
- Nothing in that requires the interpretation to settle every question the poem raises.
- A thesis can claim that the poem holds two readings open — and then defend exactly that.
"The poem is ambiguous" fails as a thesis because it...
The defensible part is the in order to.
Two readings is still a claim
- The poem is ambiguous is not a claim; the poem keeps both readings available in order to do X is.
- The defensible part is the in order to — the reason the poem refuses to settle.
- So an ambiguity thesis is not an easy way out; it is a claim with an extra obligation.
Select all the obligations an ambiguity thesis carries.
Deciding is exactly what such a thesis claims the poem does not do.
What such a thesis obliges you to do
- Show the text supports reading one. Show it supports reading two.
- Then show that nothing in the poem chooses between them.
- Three obligations instead of two — which is why it should be attempted only when the poem really does this.
Which obligation does this sentence meet?
Sort each move in an ambiguity essay.
The tell that separates an honest ambiguity thesis from indecision is pointing at ____ the poem declines.
If you cannot point at that place, you owe the reader a decision instead.
An ambiguity thesis carries three obligations, not two. Support reading one, support reading two, and then point at the place where the poem could have settled it and did not. Without that third step, a reader cannot tell your thesis from an inability to decide.
An ambiguity thesis is an easier option than a single-reading thesis.
It carries three obligations instead of two.
Do not use ambiguity to avoid deciding
- A reader can tell the difference between a poem that refuses to choose and a writer who could not.
- The tell is the third obligation: an honest ambiguity thesis shows where the poem declines.
- If you cannot point at that place, you owe the reader a decision instead.
Put the ambiguity-thesis check in order.
The last check is the one that separates the thesis from indecision.
An ambiguity-thesis check
- Does my thesis say why the poem keeps both readings open?
- Can I quote support for each reading separately?
- Can I point at the line where the poem could have chosen and did not?
Thesis: the poem keeps "kept" as both achievement and confinement so that the speaker's position cannot be summarised — which is the poem's argument about what such a life does to language. Three obligations: two readings, plus the line where the poem could have disambiguated and did not.
A thesis may claim the poem keeps two readings open — but the poem is ambiguous is not a claim; it keeps both open in order to X is. Such a thesis carries three obligations: support each reading, and point at the place where the poem declined to choose.