A review by danielsell
Poetry: A Very Short Introduction by Bernard O'Donoghue

3.0

I eagerly opened Bernard O'Donoghue's book Poetry: A Very Short Introduction for the first time looking for an interesting and fruitful survey of the art of poetry. After finishing it, I was, well, kind of disappointed with this book. This isn't a fault of the book or necessary an issue with the writing style. In fact, while I thought the jump in difficulty from chapter two to chapter three was a bit much, O'Donoghue's writing style is clear and concise throughout the book. The problem is actually with the topic itself. Poetry is, to put it succinctly, an incredibly ambiguous art form, in regards to definition, form, and purpose. This left O'Donoghue precariously qualifying every debate on every aspect of poetry. I think he did a good job of doing that, yet this ambiguity leaves you wanting more answers. I guess the only thing left to do is to dive into the vast world of poetry itself. In that regard, this book did a good job.

Ultimately, what most I got out of this book is that if someone asks you, "what is poetry?" you should respond, "yes".