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travisclau's review against another edition
5.0
I came to this book wanting to find a means of better teaching poetry in my classroom -- how to better sustain a community of thinkers uncomfortable with poetry as a means of speculating about the world, a world that feels particularly troubled and turbulent. I left thinking about my own poetic practice with a newfound set of ways to think about what it is that poetry actually *does.* I needed this more than I knew.
lgmaxwell722's review against another edition
2.0
In times when the world is upending itself, poetry can save us. Zapruder carefully analyzes multiple ways poetry can bring us back to ourselves from metaphor to imagery. I found it difficult to know who the intended audience was. Poets? The general public? One doesn't need to know or understand poetry to read this book. In fact one of Zapruder's points is ones thoughts on poetry is what makes it "hard" to read. In our current climate "Why Poetry" can provide a guide on how to navigate the world we live in.
toniclark's review against another edition
5.0
Fantastic book on poetry! I'll be back with a review. I'll return to it again and again. Can't recommend it highly enough, to beginners and accomplished poets alike. And to those who don't "get" poetry. Zapruder may just open your eyes and your heart.
rschmidt7's review against another edition
4.0
Everyone who is forced to read poetry should first read this book. It will help them cultivate the right mindset for approaching poetry. Overall, Zapruder does a solid job arguing for the idea that reading poetry is something that everyone (not just a select few scholars) is capable of doing.
The book started off well, but drifted into a muddled middle. Seemed to lose its early focus. A few repetitions here and there.
Where Zapruder really lost me was his (somewhat silly) afterword written after the US election of 2016. He writes of the "undeniable crisis" and refers to it as a time of "shock and fear and confusion," despite the fact that clearly a great portion of the country did not view it this way at all. What to me was most egregious about the afterword is that the author seemed to take for granted that his readers would automatically agree with his premise that the election was a dire crisis. The writing seemed out of touch with the reality that many fair-minded and intelligent people welcomed the results of the election and the policies of the current administration. I think the afterword ended the book in a poor way, and it distracted from the overall argument of the book.
Still worth reading the book and would still recommend it.
The book started off well, but drifted into a muddled middle. Seemed to lose its early focus. A few repetitions here and there.
Where Zapruder really lost me was his (somewhat silly) afterword written after the US election of 2016. He writes of the "undeniable crisis" and refers to it as a time of "shock and fear and confusion," despite the fact that clearly a great portion of the country did not view it this way at all. What to me was most egregious about the afterword is that the author seemed to take for granted that his readers would automatically agree with his premise that the election was a dire crisis. The writing seemed out of touch with the reality that many fair-minded and intelligent people welcomed the results of the election and the policies of the current administration. I think the afterword ended the book in a poor way, and it distracted from the overall argument of the book.
Still worth reading the book and would still recommend it.
davidjordan's review against another edition
4.0
I love poetry and read it daily, so Zapruder's encouragement wasn't exactly necessary to convince me of the art form's contemporary relevance. However, I enjoyed greatly his analysis of what makes poetry special and unique among the arts and how he personally approaches the genre, specifically how he reads an individual poem. Reading this book was a means of finding more and better ways to articulate how important poetry is to me personally, and how even more vital poetry is in a world that has no other means for accomplishing what only this particular art can do.
drchavez08's review against another edition
5.0
"The desire to write anything begins out of a basic human desire to express oneself, to be heard."
This book makes me want to drop everything and be a poet! It gave me an even deeper appreciation for poetry and all it contributes to the world of literature. Zapruder is an extremely talented writer and managed to make what could have been a very boring book into something fresh, exciting, and enlightening. Highly recommend this one to all my fellow poetry fans!
This book makes me want to drop everything and be a poet! It gave me an even deeper appreciation for poetry and all it contributes to the world of literature. Zapruder is an extremely talented writer and managed to make what could have been a very boring book into something fresh, exciting, and enlightening. Highly recommend this one to all my fellow poetry fans!
nrt43's review against another edition
A wonderful look at the many reasons to read poetry.
matthewabush's review against another edition
4.0
I have a lifetime reading list that I am working on. The list includes some required poets. I have had trouble my whole life reading poetry; I simply don't really get anything out of reading it. I found this book in the New York Time Book Review and was hoping that it would help me not necessarily "understand" poetry, but to enjoy reading it.
There were a few points in the book that I found helpful and overall found this to be an enjoyable read. I learned that I can now safely read poetry without having to find the underlying or hidden meaning of the poems. That I can read poetry and take the words at face value.
At the end of the book, the author even makes a case for poetry being the cure for the extreme divide among groups in the United States who see the world in radically different ways. Here is a paragraph I particularly liked: "People who do not have irreparably psychologically minds can be healed. The can change. This not the work of information, but of the imagination. As impossible as it might seem, it bay be that true poetry is the only way we can begin to see each other again."
There were a few points in the book that I found helpful and overall found this to be an enjoyable read. I learned that I can now safely read poetry without having to find the underlying or hidden meaning of the poems. That I can read poetry and take the words at face value.
At the end of the book, the author even makes a case for poetry being the cure for the extreme divide among groups in the United States who see the world in radically different ways. Here is a paragraph I particularly liked: "People who do not have irreparably psychologically minds can be healed. The can change. This not the work of information, but of the imagination. As impossible as it might seem, it bay be that true poetry is the only way we can begin to see each other again."
hollylol's review against another edition
funny
informative
slow-paced
3.0
It made me open-minded enough to like poetry by Zapruder was a bit repetitive.