ABSTRACT
Can the notion of the poet be configured through the role that the reader plays in the understanding of poetic intention? Can the anxiety and suspicion that the reader breeds in the mind of the poet contribute to the formation of the idea of the poet? Are we to assume that the construction of the poetic self depends on the trueness of the reader-the loyalties to the poetic intention-and also the creativity and license that the reader is expected to enjoy in the appreciation of the poetic content? It, thus, makes for an interesting reading to see how the notion of antagonism can be appropriated in comparative aesthetics to generate a concept of the poet under Jonsonian protocols and propositions of an understanding of poetic meaning.
