What Happened to American Poetry?

There are many American poets working today, acclaimed, respected, and translated into many languages. Yet, the primacy of poetry as a literary medium has been overtaken by the novel. Beyond the compariative position of poetry to fiction, there as also been an absolute drop-off in poetry's reputation and presence in American cutlure.

Poetry Versus the Novel
A thousand years ago, there was no such thing as a literary novel. Poetry and theatre were the primary literary forms, with poetry as the more exalted form. Somewhat more recently, 150 years ago the Romantic poets of England and America were the celebrities of their day. Keats, Byron and Emerson were all famous figures and remain famous today. Novelists began to be noticed at this time. Tolstoy and Melville are a couple literary names of the era when the novel became a truly literary form.

In the 20^th century, the novel can be said to have overtaken poetry as the most vaunted literary form. This notion is open to debate as, perhaps, poetry maintains its former clout and prestige in universities and literary circles. Signs seem to suggest otherwise however.

Regarding the relationship between novels and poetry, we might ask: When was the last time a poet won the Nobel Prize for literature?

And in regards to poetry's cultural presence we might ask these questions: Can you name three nationally recognized poets working today? Do you know who holds the position of America's poet laureate? (Questions answered below).

Recently Renowned Poets

In the second half of the 20^th century, Allen Ginsburg, Sylvia Plath and Maya Angelou made names for themselves as poets. Robert Creeley and Charles Olson were national figures.

John Ashbery was and is an international figure who continues to publish poetry.

There is a rich tradition of American poets and poetry from Walt Whitman to Wallace Stevens, T.S. Eliot to Edgar Allen Poe.

Students encounter these poets in school, but it seems fair to wonder if anyone writing today will be included in next year's elementary school and high school textbooks and anthologies. Poetry, alive and thriving so recently, seems to have suddenly lost its relevance and its potency. Why?

What are the critics saying?

In his essay addressing the New York Poetry Forum, Professor Joseph Salemi writes, "A very good case could be made for the contention that poetry is in fact dying, if not already dead." There are good poets working today and Salemi does not deny this, but he makes a rather damning commentary on the state of poetry today.

In his essay, "Why Poetry is Dying", Salemi goes on to paraphrase another devastating assessment of poetry's decline and American culture leveled by Joseph Epstein in an essay called, "Who Killed Poetry":

^{Just look at the various phenomena and culprits: the ideological assault on real literacy, spearheaded by our universities; the politically correct multiculturalism that strangles our discourse; the almost totally ahistorical mindset of young people; the continuing debasement of our language; the ubiquity of audiovisual entertainment; the adulation of technological gadgetry; the increasing inarticulateness of the general population; the triumph of that stupid nerd-box, the computer; and above all the vulgar commercialism and materialism of our culture, now so utterly pervasive that they define modern life. All these developments have been poison to genuine poetry.}

Salemi proposes that quantity is one of the culprits among the various forces behind the decline of poetry in American culture. There is too much poetry being produced without the necessary regard for quality, process, and talent. He writes that due to the huge quantity of poems being published "good poetry doesn't necessarily disappear, but it gets lost in the flood."

Conclusions

Poetry has taken some backwards steps. Distractions, competing literary forms and an overabundance of bad poetry have muted the poignancy of the poetic form in general and have reduced the odds of discovering good new poetry.

There are good and even great poets in America and many, many people who write poetry. "Poetry is dead" seems like an exaggerated statement and only time will tell what life poetry will live in the future of our culture.

*

Kay Ryan is our current poet laureate, recognized by the White House as our national poet.

Harold Pinter is the last poet to be awarded the Nobel Prize for literature (2005). He is the only poet to receive the award in the last 15 years.

Pinter, Ashbery, Angelou, Robert Bly, Billy Collins, Rita Dove and Phillip Levine are some nationally recognized names in poetry.

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Sources & Reference:

Salemi, Joseph, "Why Poetry Is Dying", Expansive Poetry Online

Famous Poets & Poems Dot Com