Interpreting the poetry assigned
my sophomore year, I used the OED,
and always found selected words defined
in ways perhaps not said deliberately.
At times I had to read the verse and speak
aloud, without a reference book to seek
the idiom or context of intent,
and saw a theme the poet never meant.

I know this as a writer too. Sometimes
a reader understands from what I penned
a concept I did nothing to extend,
or finds a metaphor within the rhymes
surprising to myself, or sees a trend
I furnished that I’m slow to comprehend.

(Pushkin Sonnet)