The Hatred of Poetry | 
bailedThis is only an 86-page book, so you‘d think I‘d be able to get through it without much trouble. However, I got through 20 pages and was so bored I gave up. I flipped forward to find the parts about Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman and then after I skimmed those I put it down. For a book claiming that poetry is for everyone, the book didn‘t seem very accessible.
pickFirst book of 2018 down!! And by book I mean single essay published in its own little volume. 😆 Id like to try to describe the arguments the author (a poet I might add) puts forth in this piece, but it would require too much space. Suffice to say it was a fun way to kick of my #poetrychallenge2018 because it addressed the things we tend to expect poems to be and do. Now, on to the poetry! 😋
This is a very interesting essay! #poetrychallenge2018 #poetrychallenge
Well, folks--all our 2018 plans and reading challenges start tomorrow! In preparation for hosting and participating in #poetrychallenge2018 I'm reading The Hatred of Poetry right now, to explore why so many people (myself included) both love and hate poetry at the same time. 😆 #newyearsreadathon #poetrychallenge
so-soJust finished the third book of my #24in48. The flowing essay style was not my favorite form, but I appreciate what Lerner is getting at.
pickFuture/current/former English majors, if you really love or really hate poetry, this is a fun lit crit essay. That's right, LIT CRIT ESSAYS CAN BE FUN. Sometimes. 🤓
In NYC this weekend and made my very first trip to the Strand Bookstore. I bought a million things but here's a few. Can I just live there and never come home? @strandbookstore 📚😍🤓
pickPoet/novelist Lerner writes an essay about why people hate poetry, using this antipathy as a defense of it. Citing numerous poets and critics, classic and contemporary, Lerner demonstrates a keen grasp of poetry and its history and he writes convincingly and smartly about what poetry should or should not “do.” As someone who actively reads poetry much more than I used to, I found the essay interesting and enlightening, if not exactly conclusive.
pickBeautifully written essay about the complicated nature of poetry. Why are we so quick to proclaim we hate it or dismiss poets when poetry is also the very essence of showcasing our humanity? Lerner writes excellent critique of poets here with astute observations from Walt Whitman to Claudia Rankine. It will expand your mind & the way you think about poetry, lyric, & verse. It's a tiny book under 100 pgs. Great stocking stuffer for lit lovers. ✍🏼
I can't watch the debate tonight, I'd just get too angry. So library run, and some new choices to keep me company! Where should I start?
pickArguably, Lerner isn't saying anything new here, but this is a breezy, earnest essay that made me want to get into poetry again.
I've been quiet lately because I'm on vacation (again, haha), but look what I picked up at the Book Mecca (aka @strandbookstore ) today! Hearing people say they don't like poetry just makes me melancholy, so I'm going to find what makes those folks tick & direct them to some poetry they'll like. 💜
so-soEasy reading as far as criticism goes, but don't mistake this for anything other than criticism. Lerner's gifts with language make it a pleasant 80-page essay, but his thesis (there has never been a perfect poem because our expectations for poetry are impossible) isn't the most profound of insights.
I, too, dislike it.
Reading it, however, with a perfect
contempt for it, one discovers in
it, after all, a place for the genuine
- "Poetry" by Marilyn Moore
THESE ARE MY BRILLIANT ESSAYS OF POETIC CRITICISM, HUMAN. GO AWAY.
And if we do not? Yet still don't really read it? What then, Mr. Lerner? I look forward to discovering your reply in this slim and well reviewed pamphlet.
pickI think with this book Lerner has opened up a space for a really interesting and important conversation to take place (to continue). And his analytic mode is so precise and exact, a marvel to watch as it processes, pushes, refutes, refuses.
