In this paper, having examined the differnces between classical and modern text, we compare the audience"s position in these two categories of discourse. It is a truism that parallel with changes in factors governing discourse, rhetoric takes new meanings too. Modern rhetoric is dominated by "interpretation"; in classical rhetoric however, exposition is the overriding element and writer rhetoric gives place to reader rhetoric. Here, following some relevant theoretical discussions, Persian poetry is examined with respect to the reader"s relation with the text. It is argued that understanding "Gnostic" and original modern poetry requires reader rhetoric. Overall, based on this perspective, the contemporary Persian poetry can be divided into three classes: 1. Single-meaning poems which are often easy for readers to communicate with them. 2. Explicable poems which have one explanation. 3. Interpretable poems which have extensive ambiguity of meaning.