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My Reading of 'My Country' By Dorothea Mackellar
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The way a piece of writing is interpreted by the reader depends on the cultural context within which the reader lives. A reader employs their historical and political setting along with their cultural and social environment to construct meaning within a text. Personal experience, class, gender, race/ethnicity and cultural identity also help to establish the readers beliefs, values and attitudes.
Taking a traditional approach to reading a piece of writing restricts the reader from interpreting subordinate ideas and presses the reader to only pay attention to the dominant ideas in a text. In traditional reading practice the reader generally considers one connotation in a text and the personal context of the reader plays no part in their understanding. The only source of meaning comes from the use of generic conventions and the dominant ideas of the time. Dominant ideas are theories promoted by people of power and superiority. In traditional reading practices these ideas are claimed to be the meaning of a text; unchangeable over time and the same for all groups of readers. Contemporary reading practices encourage the reader to explore a range of possible meanings in a text and analyze and challenge these meanings. Taking a contemporary approach means that the reader is open to argue that readings of a poem are not simply interpretations of what is there; rather these readings are constructed in support of the values and beliefs of particular groups of people. My Country ...
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