Writer Versus Reader

Who controls the text once it has been written? Does it still belong to the writer or does it belong to the reader? Elbow asks for respect for the writer and faith in the writer's authorial meanings, despite the fact that writers often fail to be clear. My students and I have often debated this issue, especially when it comes to interpreting poetry and some prose. Inherent in our interpretations are the conventions of literature, a history of sort that adds its own meaning despite what the author "meant to say." How many times have I said to my students that "You cannot just attach any meaning to what the poet has written"? It has to be based on something. Just as often, I have admitted to them that only the author can be one hundred percent sure of interpretation.

Did Elbow mean that the writer can (does) determine meaning for the reader? Is this the same as the speaker determining meaning for the listener? When I inadvertently call someone "Sweetheart" because I cannot remember names, am I still in control of what meaning the listener attaches to the term? What about the use of the hip hop version of the "N" word? Who controls meaning there? The writer? The artist? The audience?

To what extent does the teacher as reader assume control of the text of the student as writer? When I offer suggestions, am I not taking control of the text? Am I not assuming that the student meant to say what I would have said, how I would have said it?