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quenchgum's review against another edition
5.0
Totally unique, so far as I know. Awesome. I want more.
iwnbh's review against another edition
4.0
Short but ambitious and full of candor. I really enjoyed Lerner's description of how he decided he wanted to be a poet, especially the Challenger/Ronald Reagan anecdote, which I could swear repeatedly pops up throughout his other texts. He has a couple topics that he loves to return to, tying his body of work together and making it feel like I'm on the metro, every once in a while recognizing the stations— hey, we've been there before. But it's more resonant than repetitive, and it's very satisfying to see him making connections in what feels like real time.
I will say that poetry is something I've never known how to approach. It's still pretty unclear to me after having read this, because it feels, to me, like reading poetry requires an intense and thorough knowledge of the technical (iambic pentameters? dactyls? elegies?) combined with strong artistic intuition. This patchwork toolkit has always intimidated me, but I guess poetry's supposed "badness" has also left me a lot of food for thought.
This might be a silly tangent, but doesn't it almost strike you as Lacanian? There's probably a better analogy to be made here, but the disconnect between the actual and virtual of poetry, reminds me of the similarly unbridgeable gap between the unified version of ourselves in the mirror versus the fragmented self-perception of our emotion. It does make me a little sad that poetry is defined by its shortcomings more than its accomplishment, but I see the beauty inspired by that conflict, made sublime not in spite of it but because of it.
I will say that poetry is something I've never known how to approach. It's still pretty unclear to me after having read this, because it feels, to me, like reading poetry requires an intense and thorough knowledge of the technical (iambic pentameters? dactyls? elegies?) combined with strong artistic intuition. This patchwork toolkit has always intimidated me, but I guess poetry's supposed "badness" has also left me a lot of food for thought.
This might be a silly tangent, but doesn't it almost strike you as Lacanian? There's probably a better analogy to be made here, but the disconnect between the actual and virtual of poetry, reminds me of the similarly unbridgeable gap between the unified version of ourselves in the mirror versus the fragmented self-perception of our emotion. It does make me a little sad that poetry is defined by its shortcomings more than its accomplishment, but I see the beauty inspired by that conflict, made sublime not in spite of it but because of it.
cfhaywood97's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
__niii__'s review against another edition
fast-paced
3.0
Objectively I think it’s good. Personally a lot of it went over my head. I don’t understand structures and forms of poetry so I could not understand his critiques. I did take away something from the book and it’s given me a new perspective on poetry. Would not recommend without basic knowledge of poetry structures and forms.
matthew_whiteman's review against another edition
4.25
call me a lernerhead, i thought this was great! just a real good, memorable angle to take on poetry at large. shifted the way i think ab it, especially in his exploration of virtual v actual poems. i feel like you can't ask much more from a book length essay on poetry.
if you have the time, def read this rather than the extract on poetry foundation. i mean the extract is fine, but you're missing a lot of the fun. like the sidenotes (if that's what you'd call em) !
if you have the time, def read this rather than the extract on poetry foundation. i mean the extract is fine, but you're missing a lot of the fun. like the sidenotes (if that's what you'd call em) !