I’m very lucky to have grown up with poetry from the crib. I have a few friends who write poetry and many more who reference poetry and poets in casual conversation. Poetry is not distant nor academic. (Lest you think we are the new Bloomsbury Group, we also talk about TV and the rest of modern culture.)

I found the following article thought-provoking (hat tip to Dangerousmeta):

Why Poetry Matters – ChronicleReview.com
By JAY PARINI

Poetry doesn’t matter to most people. They go about their business as usual, rarely consulting their Shakespeare, Wordsworth, or Frost. One has to wonder if poetry has any place in the 21st century, when music videos and satellite television offer daunting competition for poems, which demand a good deal of attention and considerable analytic skills, as well as some knowledge of the traditions of poetry.

In the 19th century, poets like Scott, Byron, and Longfellow had huge audiences around the world. Their works were best sellers, and they were cultural heroes as well. But readers had few choices in those days. One imagines, perhaps falsely, that people actually liked poetry. …

I question much that Parini writes in his entire piece. I live in the 21st Century among poets and appreciators. I see poetry in many, diverse publications, including the infinite Web. Parini completely ignores “spoken word,” slams and rap. Our country, which pours money into violence and destruction, has crowned great poets laureate, though many people cannot name one.

Strangely, Parini goes on to blame poets for making poetry hard by demanding a level of literacy the populace once had (not really) but now lacks (also not true). He blames the poets, instead of society and education. In fact, he congratulates the Academical Village for “domesticating” poets. (Those same “hard” poets?) I can’t cogently respond to this portion of Parini’s essay because it scarcely makes sense to me.

To their credit, the domesticated poets grazing in English Departments surely have helped their students appreciate the deeper meanings in poetry. “Publish or perish” and conferences and competition do not necessarily produce popularly-known poets, but it’s a living, which is hard for a poet to come by — at least, as a poet. (Ironically, I am a poet who works for a university, but in a field not-often associated with poetry: I teach computer classes.)

Still, any academic worth his or her salt can toss off an essay replete with informed references worth pursuing. I enjoyed Parini’s compellation of ‘beware of poets’ references — those alone are worth reading. A Defence of Poetry, by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Robert Frost’s “Education by Poetry” warrant more consideration.

In the end, thinking about poetry is a far better use of one’s mind than so many alternatives. I agree with Parini’s assertion that “poetry can make a difference in the lives of readers.” If only we gave a fraction more of our time to poetry — reading and writing — than we do to everything that is so ugly, cruel and mean. That’s a wish you won’t hear the self-serving bloviators bray to the numb mobs that hang on their invective. peace, mjh