Selecting a Reader

In the poem, the speaker’s imagined reader pulls out her glasses in order to read the poems in the speaker’s book. Ironically, her glasses, as a symbol of intelligence, are the lenses through which the woman is able to read the poems and to decide that they are not for her.

The poet’s decision to employ the symbol of glasses in this poem lends a humorous tone to the reader’s experience of the poem. The woman’s glasses allow her to see the poems more clearly, which leads her to reject them with certainty. Glasses, and their connotation of wisdom and intelligence, enable the woman to turn away from poetry, which suggests that perhaps the poet himself is ambivalent about the role of poetry in everyday life.

The woman’s “damp” (Line 4) hair symbolizes femininity and the speaker’s desire for the imagined woman he has selected as his reader. In “Selecting a Reader,” the woman’s damp hair demonstrates her sexual viability. The woman is “beautiful” (Line 1), and her hair is damp, which suggests that she has recently bathed or showered. This intimate detail about the woman’s hair reinforces the libidinous elements of the male gaze mentioned in the Themes section of the guide as the male speaker engages in his fantasy of her.