Proofs & Theories: Essays on Poetry (Louise Gluck)
The Anxiety of Influence (Harold Bloom)
Beautiful & Pointless: A Guide to Modern Poetry (David Orr)
The Hatred of Poetry (Ben Lerner)
Contemporary Poetry Review has essay upon essay of criticism of poems
These are what I’ll offer, as well as a lot of T.S Elliot, but U kno he can be hard to swallow. So I’d offer him last 4 dessert.
Read this first, by Kristen Prevallet. Sample:
“To offer my two cents about poetry criticism I will say:
1) poetry reviews are seldom poetry criticism. They are usually fondling acknowledgments demonstrating likeability, and serve the absolutely essential purpose of keeping us sane. I write them, and will continue to do so, with pleasure.
2) criticism rarely gets written among people who know each other personally; as a rule of thumb, critics do not socialize with those they critique. The fact of the matter is that poetry has very few actual critics who are not poets, or who are not interested in socializing with poets. This is of course a problem, and means essentially that poetry criticism needs to be defined separately than ordinary criticism because it serves a very different function.
3) Poetry bantering and the inevitable personal repercussions are not poetry criticism. The poetic exchange is critical, but is not necessarily criticism; poetry criticism is a critique that takes into account the larger contexts - theoretical, social, cultural - that led to the production of poetry. The issue of whether poetry or a particular poet does or does not function within a particular scene is merely anecdotal; the real question is where does poetry intersect with larger contexts? Are poets willing or interested in forging that bridge?
4) It is very difficult to write poetry criticism and not have poets feel personally maimed (ask Jarrell). For some reason poetry criticism does not advance the formal, intellectual, or contextual parameters of poetry. It always gets confused with the personal. Just ask anyone who has been in the ring of fire: even the grandest provocateurs of the EP’s - people like Dale Smith, Brian Kim Stefans, Alan Gilbert, Henry Gould, Ben Friedlander, Dodie Bellamy, Juliana Spahr, and a host of others, including myself, who are opinionated when they write about poetry - can testify to feeling the pain of critique. Friedlander finally went underground, writing his reviews under a pseudonym. Gould launched such an assault on the poetics list that he was ultimately kicked off. Smith’s mocking sense of humor gets taken so painfully literally. Ultimately the general feeling among poets that I hear over and over again in conversations is the same: poets who make waves are annoying.”
There’s a lot 2 look at wrt criticism, a lot of it is on specific poets or books. A lot of it delves into particular eras or styles. These are all worth looking at, worth thinking abt. Tha important thing is 2 start somewhere.
blakekathryn
titsay
areudirty
jacobvanloon
kaledo-art
turnnoffyourmind
yousharknotpass
prguitarman
