07-03-2011, 04:32 AM
I think that the state of English-language poetry is in flux. I find that much 'serious' poetry, is seriously terrible, and there appears to be a terror of being thought 'middle-brow' which haunts the modern garret, with all mod. cons. It would be interesting to know in which of the English-speaking countries it is most popular, per capita.
We are entitled to blame capitalism a bit: once upon a time, newspapers regularly printed poems, as well as popular magazines. The Times published Tennyson's 'Charge of the Light Brigade, I seem to recall. Recently, poetry only gets in the news when there is a bust-up (as at this very time, with the Poetry Society), or perhaps the appointment of the Poet Laureate, and similar. Just maybe, if the poetry available were attractive enough, papers might see it as they do cross-words or chess-problems. In Arabic newspapers, for example the London 'Al Quds', publishing poems is a very regular occurrence, and what poems! None of your haiku, or pithy six-liners; not even sonnet-length, but on and on and on....Then again, I read recently that the Palestinan poet, Mahmud Darwish, can fill a 40,000 seat stadium...
We are entitled to blame capitalism a bit: once upon a time, newspapers regularly printed poems, as well as popular magazines. The Times published Tennyson's 'Charge of the Light Brigade, I seem to recall. Recently, poetry only gets in the news when there is a bust-up (as at this very time, with the Poetry Society), or perhaps the appointment of the Poet Laureate, and similar. Just maybe, if the poetry available were attractive enough, papers might see it as they do cross-words or chess-problems. In Arabic newspapers, for example the London 'Al Quds', publishing poems is a very regular occurrence, and what poems! None of your haiku, or pithy six-liners; not even sonnet-length, but on and on and on....Then again, I read recently that the Palestinan poet, Mahmud Darwish, can fill a 40,000 seat stadium...