On this segment from First Friday, American poet Dana Gioia discusses the history of poetry in a conversation about his book “Can Poetry Matter?: Essays on Poetry and American Culture,” published by Graywolf Press.
On this segment from First Friday, American poet Dana Gioia discusses the history of poetry in a conversation about his book “Can Poetry Matter?: Essays on Poetry and American Culture,” published by Graywolf Press.
SPEAKER: Really until about 1920, poetry was part of the mainstream of American life. The bestselling author in any genre in the 19th century in America was Longfellow as a poet. I mean, Longfellow was read by virtually every literate American.
The most popular playwright in 19th century America was Shakespeare. And Shakespeare was performed by people at every level of society. Even miners in small mining towns, once they built the saloon, would put on amateur performances of Shakespeare. And there was really a love affair between the American people and literature, especially poetry, because it was really, in a sense, part of the American vision, which was to give the common man, in a sense, not access, but the ability to create his own life.
I can go back, and I can give you 100 anecdotes about how popular American poetry was.
DANA GIOIA: Give me one.
SPEAKER: I'll give you one. Edna St. Vincent Millay, after the publication of Fatal Interview in 1931 was so popular, she was given a network radio show to read poetry on.
Digitization made possible by the National Historical Publications & Records Commission.
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