Quests for the Power of the Poem (Forgetting the Power of the Past?)

The review article examines three innovative books: Poetry Unbound by Mike Chaser looks at how to account for poetry in the context of past and contemporary social media, while Why Poetry by Matthew Zapruder and Don’t Read Poetry by Stephanie Burt look at how and why to read poetry in our contemporary culture. The article begins with a discussion of the evolution of poetry from the 1910s when poetry was subject to dramatic technological changes and the rise of radical art movements, attracting new audiences. As poetry became more open-ended, intertextual, playful, and exploratory, the question of what constitutes (good or bad) poetry came to the fore. In their collective defence of poetry, Chaser, Zapruder, and Burt champion poetry, whether accessible or challenging, as popular, relevant, and socially beneficial. Though the three books’ readings of poetry and the examples used are often conventional, in a sense unconscious of their radical forebears, each book in different ways asserts the ongoing presence and power of poetry.