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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
Ah, Ben Lerner is so smart! He argues that people love to hate on poetry — including those who write it. Why? Because every actual poem is a far cry from the ideal of Poetry we all imagine. And in professing our hatred for individual poems, we sometimes reinforce our love, devotion for, or at the very least belief in the sacred ideal of Poetry.
A wonderful romp through many ages in Western literary history. Short but pretty much indispensable!!!
A wonderful romp through many ages in Western literary history. Short but pretty much indispensable!!!
"Do you remember the feeling that sense was provisional and that two people could build around an utterance a world in which any usage signified? I think that's poetry."
Such a clear, lucid essay. It’s emotional, full of yummy imagery, and an immensely satisfying reading or any lover or hater of poetry. I especially appreciated Lerner’s consistent and well-argued theory that all poetry is a reach toward the divine (the emotional divine, the physical divine, the divine ability to inspire action in others) while at the same time existing as an inescapable failure to reach that same divine. If poetry elicits any strong feelings in you (love, hate, confusion, etcetera), then this is a tight essay you should absolutely ingest.
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
This was really interesting and informative. I’m surprised I liked it. It’s taught me more about poetry. And made me want to read more poetry, well actually start reading any poetry because I was not reading any poetry before
challenging
informative
medium-paced
I found this to be a compelling essay which explored our universal disagreement over the importance of poetry. Lerner discusses the basis of hate and the differing ways in which we value literature. I would recommend this to any poetry enthusiasts or literary critics as it's ideas are fascinating and charming.
I love when something is this smart and this completely unpretentious. Lerner is clear and graceful in an argument about the impossibility of poetry (and art in general), an argument that is both complex and stunningly simple. Not quite sure what to make of his marginalia, but they frequently made me laugh and crystallized the points they accompanied.