I think I agree with Tim on this. There are problems with the teaching
as well as with the popularization of poetry; the commercial & the academic
sometimes pursue their own interests irrespective of the value of the
writing itself. It seems to me that both the production and the
teaching/reception of poetry demand a real creative & free
commitment every day. Some people are better at the one than the other.
It's a gift, as the WC Fields movie has it. & creative individuality
changes the monotonous conditions in unpredictable ways. Some have
poo-pooed the concept of the individual on an adjacent thread. I think
any really free society makes room for both individual & collective
experience & action. You have your city & your wilderness; your
group efforts & your lone wolves. They enrich each other.
Even if one accepts Gioia's complaint, it's hard to see how the
solution is a conscious "popularization" effort, either by poets
or teachers of poetry. I haven't really thought this through, but
I tend to think that strong poetry ought to create its own new
conditions for reception.
Henry
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