The Mind of the Poet

Abstract

Geoffrey Hartman recently assigned a somewhat doubtful future to the study of poetry:

The reading, writing, and also viewing of novels will continue. But already the reading of poetry, though not the writing of it, is jeopardized. Poe thought that a long poem was a contradiction: lyric nuggets held together by prosy passages. My recent experience as a teacher tells me that even midsize poems are now a contradiction to students. (‘Fate of Reading Once More’ 388)