Random Thoughts on Reading Poetry

Yesterday night I stayed up late because I was fascinated by Joseph Epstein’s article entitled “who killed poetry?” Everyone agrees that poetry is in a bad way but as to why none has a convincing and conclusive idea. Joseph Epstein at the outset is also just quoting the opinions of some famous people. For example some say that poetry suffered a decline because of the modernist movement spearheaded by T.S. Eliot and his cohorts.They pushed poetry toward the colloquial, the slangy and the difficult. However, the retort is equally resounding: after the difficult phase, the numbers of the readers didn’t pick up at all. Then there is Shapiro’s interesting “B”, “S”,” K”theory; that is, in any given period, there are only three great poets like Byron, Shelley and Keats and the others are just satellites moving in their orbits. This, to me, doesn’t seem to explain much. At last comes Joseph Epstein’s own theory in the disguise of a quote by a French poet. The gist of it is that nowadays poets are highly professionalized; they work in universities as professors and run their own workshops and move in their coterie circles. In consequence, they tend to pay compliments to each other and wouldn't dole out any criticisms whatever. The result is a suffocating atmosphere, without hope, without new vitality. Epstein's article ends on a neither-happy-nor-sad note and sounds a warning couched in figurative language.