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10/3/2016 2 Comments

Hating poetry

In his book The Hatred of Poetry, Max Lerner explores the aversion to this art even by poets, Marianne Moore saying, "I too dislike it." He asserts that the ambition for a poem is not realistic. Responding to an interviewer in the Paris Review (June 2016), he discusses the reaction of readers: "The non-poet is still haunted by the idea that you're a poet by virtue of being human," adding "to say you're a poet is to say you're more human than they are." My hope for my poems is that they can activate a meaning for the reader through the mystery of language not possible in prose, perhaps even a redemptive experience.
2 Comments
Bridget Thompson
1/4/2017 04:02:41 pm

Neva, yes I very much agree that a poem doesn't just "tell it true" as its purpose. The purpose of newspaper articles and such is to form, poetry is an art form. Something people read and write to meditate on, reflect, express profound feelings in words they couldn't any other way. It is of the soul.

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Bridget Thompson
1/4/2017 04:06:11 pm

Also, yes I agree that a reader seeks redemptive meaning and an experience beyond language in a poem. Almost to transform themselves to this "other world." Sometimes the ambition for a poem can seem not realistic, because you are aiming to describe something in a non-instinctive, almost beyond-human way.

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    Neva Herrington

    Neva Herrington is a poet and former educator. She is currently working on a new book of poetry, a collection of short stories, and her memoir. Her inspiration comes from her own experience and the work of other poets.

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