Beautiful & Pointless: A Guide To Modern Poetry (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
Vivid and easy to read introduction to some issues in modern poetry (form, significance, greatness, status-competition, etc). The author made me laugh out loud several times with his deflating interpretations of overwrought poems and prose. Orr leavens the text with eye-catching similes of exactly the sort that Orwell advocates in "Politics of the English Language". Orr talks about poetry in much the same way that Rorty talked about philosophy - wonder if they ever talked to each other? In the introduction, Orr describes just about every other book about poetry readily available to the common reader. In the pages that follow, he succeeds in writing one that is refreshingly different. It gives the reader a basic outline of the landscape, allowing one to have an idea about some facets of modern poetry. He aptly describes poetry as like a foreign country (in this case, Belgium) and gives the reader a little tour which is, fortunately, closer to an episode of Stephen Fry in America than to a History Channel special.
What do You think about Beautiful & Pointless: A Guide To Modern Poetry (2012)?
A witty amuse-bouche to poetry. Rarely pedantic, frequently funny, and encouraging.
—Lalot
This is crap! All hail false god of omnipotent understanding roflmao!!!
—sweetsweetbffs
i lost him when he started criticizing jewel
—Sarah
