I think meaning in poetry can be important but it really depends on what one means by “meaning.” I don’t think that poetry necessarily needs to have any more reason for being written other than to just express or to just get something out of your brain. If by “meaning,” one is speaking of purpose or intention then I think that’s important, even if the purpose is simply just to entertain or to express a thought. Whether the purpose or intention comes across is probably one of the main things that makes a poem great but that’s debatable. Maybe the intention was for it to not be clear. As far as visual arts, I think meaning, as in purpose or intention, is important only in full on pieces and their preliminary works but not necessarily in doodles. When searching for meaning in a piece, whether it be visual or poetry, I don’t think there is a point where you can go that’s too far if one really wants to know and the artist or author is no longer living because at that point, we can’t ask them anyway, unless they are well known and have spoken about the intentions behind their work. If this is the case and the dead artist or author is well known or they are still living, then I think that the search for meaning goes too far after you’ve gone a little passed what they claim to be the intention or purpose. I don’t think its wrong to look into the life of the artist or author or look into the history of the world or place they were in at the time of the work’s creation and find meaning there if the work reflects these things.
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