http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2003/05/05/poetry-is-dead-does-anybody-really-care.html
Bruce Wexler has such a contradicting view on poetry. In the beginning if his article, he seems to almost complain how no one cares about poetry anymore, how poetry is dead and forgotten. But then, Wexler goes on to say how he was part of the reason it is now ‘dead’. His “interest waned” when it came to the subject, he claims. Wexler even goes as far as to make an excuse for the reason society ‘killed’ poetry, saying that the “intensely prosaic” 70s and 80s caused interest in it to decline. He blames Reagan, senators, and the new generation as destroyers of poetry. “People don't possess the patience to read a poem 20 times before the sound and sense of it takes hold,” he says. Is this Wexler’s way of saying that society isn’t intelligent anymore? That we’ve become dumb? This is where its gets ironic. Wexler is claiming that the decreased interest in poetic literature is due to the laziness of America; but then he also blames himself for the poetry’s ‘death’. I’m getting a vibe that maybe Wexler is calling himself lazy and stupid.
Bruce Wexler has such a contradicting view on poetry. In the beginning if his article, he seems to almost complain how no one cares about poetry anymore, how poetry is dead and forgotten. But then, Wexler goes on to say how he was part of the reason it is now ‘dead’. His “interest waned” when it came to the subject, he claims. Wexler even goes as far as to make an excuse for the reason society ‘killed’ poetry, saying that the “intensely prosaic” 70s and 80s caused interest in it to decline. He blames Reagan, senators, and the new generation as destroyers of poetry. “People don't possess the patience to read a poem 20 times before the sound and sense of it takes hold,” he says. Is this Wexler’s way of saying that society isn’t intelligent anymore? That we’ve become dumb? This is where its gets ironic. Wexler is claiming that the decreased interest in poetic literature is due to the laziness of America; but then he also blames himself for the poetry’s ‘death’. I’m getting a vibe that maybe Wexler is calling himself lazy and stupid.
Personally, I don’t think poetry is dead - and there are plenty of live poets that are famous today (Billy Collins!). I agree with Wexler that poetry isn’t America’s top priority. However, I don’t think he should use such a drastic term as ‘dead’ to describe this decrease in poetic interests. And he shouldn’t use the fact that other people in society are lazy as his excuse for not liking or wanting to read it himself.
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