This study investigated responses by fifteen- and sixteen-year-old students to poetry in three interview situations--affectively-oriented, cognitively-oriented, or nondirective--and the relationship of the responses to interview method, sex, and reading level. The responses were assigned to the five categories of Personal Association, Moral Judgment, Thematic Interpretation, Technical Approach, and Factual Narration. The conclusions of the study, derived from statistical interpretation of response frequencies and directive method, indicated that prereading orientation in a specific direction narrowed the students' responses, while nondirective treatment, allowing the student freedom to structure his own reactions to poetry, widened the frequency of responses in many categories. The conclusions were seen to have implications for teaching, and to suggest problems for further research. A selected bibliography is included. (Several pages may be light.) (Author/DI)