Maggie's Farm

The Poetry Issue

The New Criterion's annual  poetry issue is out, covering Richard Wilbur, Eliot, Lord Rochester, etc.

And including a fine essay on Formalism by poet David Yezzi. Excerpt:

"Today, as I have said, it is not necessary to understand prosody at all in order to write a successful poem in English or to be a successful poet. Still, I can’t help wondering if the art isn’t made poorer by contemporary poets’ self-assured disregard of traditional verse technique. As Brander Matthews himself once famously said: “A gentleman need not know Latin, but he should have at least forgotten it.” Prosody is not far behind Latin in terms of its obsolescence, even within the specialized discipline of poetry. And this goes for readers and critics, as well as for poets."
Read entire here.