I perused this book and need to still deep-dive into it. Note that it is a short read but I did a quick glance to be able to get an idea of the book.

What I like:
-- Ardam’s effortless combination of memoir and analysis
-- The introduction to so many poets and poems that I had not known of earlier. While Ardam of course includes many popular poets and poems, there are others that I discovered through the pages

What I could have done with less-of:
-- Ardam’s critique of certain poets and poems is sometimes harsh and sounds even bitter. While on the one hand, I admire the honesty, on the other, it seems out of place in context.
-- Politics.. there is so much talk of it within the pages of this book about poetry that again feels totally out of context

In Summary
Overall, I would recommend this read to anyone who wants to read poetry, or more precisely read about reading poetry. This book is kind of an Ars Poetica by itself! And I now want to check out the rest of the Avidly Reads series!

Disclaimer: Thanks to NetGalley for the digital review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

3.5 rating: A short refresher type book into literary criticism of poetry, with a touch of personal preferences and autobiography thrown in. I wanted a short refresher into reading poems, find out something of the current state, as it isn’t anything I follow closely. This book does just that. It is heavily into diversity and inclusion within poetry, and shows how the entry point to poetry can be something other than the standard sonnet of historical literature classes. These types of poems may be off putting to people who could otherwise gain from experiencing poetry. I did appreciate the write up of how Ardam helped her students get into difficult poems, ones that are quite avant-garde.

I enjoyed this book, which is at once a personal exploration of the author’s experiences with poetry in a professional capacity and an accessible introduction to poetry criticism in general. The love the author feels for the field of poetry is evident from her enthusiasm and the grief later revealed when it is not as big a part of her life anymore. I appreciated the discussions on poetry itself, more so the later half, especially when tying in specific works with a contextual story. It was in line with what resonated most, which was when the author acknowledged that the idea of what makes poetry good is ultimately subjective, tied in with specific experiences a reader holds in their life.

I'm an odd reader for this book, as like Ardam, I'm a 19th-century literature scholar who, due to a variety of blocks (including the nonexistent job market) will probably not get to make a career out of 19th-century literature scholarship. So, I suspect parts of the book hit closer to home for me than for other readers. I enjoyed the volume, which feels like an enjoyable string of early-week lectures in a Poetry 101 class--in a good way! Like other reviewers, I did feel the absence of queer theory (particularly in the Internet Poem chapter) and wanted a more robust discussion/theorization of circulation. Put in the right hands, this book can serve as a delicious gateway to poetry for many readers--that possibility certainly earns it a spot on my shelf!

More of a 3.5 than a 3, but not quite a 4 for me.

What Worked for Me
This book got me thinking more about poetry, how it's used, the stories it can tell, the types of audiences it can (or sometimes cannot) reach. I liked how it was divided into four sections that focused not only on a type of poem, but on the author's personal life. I thought she mixed poetic analysis and memoir together in a way that was cohesive, both parts working together toward a clear goal. The chapter on abecedarian poems was fascinating. I had read Edward Gorey and thought passively about audience & intended demographic, but never looked further than that. I also really enjoyed the chapter on documentary poems, as I didn't know much about such poems. This essay collection introduced me to many poets & concepts that I will be researching further in the future.

What Didn't Work for Me
Ardam uses a lot more swearing, which I wasn't expecting. I'm not against using swear words in general, as long as it fits & has a clear purpose. This was not the case, in this instance. From the description I was expecting something a lot more academic. Maybe if the book had a brief introduction to the series this is a part of that might have helped? (I haven't looked up the rest of the series, so I'm not sure if this would help or not.) I was a little unclear on the intended audience. The mix between memoir and analysis worked, but the mix between personal and academic didn't, which I know seems contradictory, but analysis can be personal or can be academic. It rarely works as both, in my experience. Ardam also can come across as vituperative in her political comments, which, while understandable, isn't my cup of tea, as it were.

While there were many things I appreciated about the chapter on internet poems, this was the weakest essay. It was messy, not always coherent, and not always fair. The Mary Oliver poem takes a beating, which I found odd, because the entire poem was filled with queer vibes all over the place, and upon a quick google search it turns out Mary Oliver was a lesbian poet. Ardam tries to be more aware of her bias as a straight cis-gendered woman, but gods, she wildly missed the queer wording of this entire poem. I read it and almost immediately cried, I related to the queer subtext So Much. I understand her critique of rupi kaur, but I do not understand her critique of Mary Oliver as banal. As she might say: WTF is wrong with you? If you are going to have an essay collection that includes references and analysis of queer authors & people of color, I would have expected a sensitivity reader to be involved, and I'm not convinced that happened. As a white person, I'm not wondering if there are racist things in this text that I missed.

What I Think Overall
If you are looking for a personal, part-memoir, part-analysis look at poetry and how audience can affect the reading & creation of poetry, I recommend this book. It's short, there are good questions, it would be great, I think, as a book club book to start dialogue around some difficult issues. I think it does a good job of making an argument for poetry's validity as an artistic form. If you are looking for more than that, this may not be the book for you.

this is an accessible introduction to contemporary poetry criticism, especially political poetry criticism, equivalent to a 101 or 201 course. ardam traces her reading of popular culture poetry moments from the teen shakespeare adaptations of the '90s to our current insta poet frenzy, and undergirds this lineage with analysis and counter-analysis from poets and critics of colour. what feels especially 101 or 201 about this book is the way it serves more as an introduction to other people's critical insights, rather than an unfolding of the author's own. this is at times frustrating; if i wanted to read someone else's analytical work, i would find their book and read it. ardam shines most—for me, anyway, as a lay person—when explicating how and why the poems work, or don't, at the craft level. but maybe a reader for whom the poetry is familiar and the politics new would feel differently.

relying so heavily on other writers' and thinkers' work leaves some major holes in the analysis. i have a real bone to pick with the closing chapter on internet poetry—i almost wonder if it was rushed to completion, as it feels less sturdy than the previous chapters. how do you write about internet poets and internet-popular poetry, how do you claim to be super online, without apparently knowing about or having anything to say about the internet weirdos? lockwood and siken are completely absent—two poets who, i would argue, diverge greatly from her general thesis that internet poetry is distinct for its interest in individualistic affirmation in a feel-good way (could we say that siken is interested in affirmation in a feel-bad way?) meanwhile her emphasis on instagram poets such as kaur completely misses the much more interesting history on poetry tumblr from, let's say, 2012-2014, completely misses warsan shire and nayyirah waheed and the like. her conclusion, that while mediocre perhaps kaur's work is important for what it imparts to young girls as a cultural-political demographic, which sets kaur aside from the (i cannot believe i am saying this) mary olivers of the world, who say "you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves" but do not talk about periods, i guess, is embarrassingly facile. there's so much rich ground for analysis here and she skates right on by. perhaps a deadline is to blame.

speaking of mary oliver: we need to talk about the strange gulf that exists in this book where a queer analysis should be. ardam slams oliver for writing "banal" "self-soothing" poetry, poetry that she considers to be bad on the level of the line but also empty politically, and it's hard to say which is the worse sin in her eyes. there is no acknowledgement of the political context of lesbian life. "wild geese" is presented as perhaps the worst and most hollow of the viral poems ardam analyzes—being good/walking on your knees repenting/loving what you love/your place in the family of things reduced down to feel-good validation babble. i could write a whole essay about those four lines in the context of sara ahmed's work on straight phenomenology right now!

this stands out so strongly because of the time ardam takes throughout the book to repeatedly emphasize her own positionality as a straight cis white woman. in the first chapter on shakespeare in the '90s, for instance, she states over and over that the relationship she had to these movies and these poems and these romances were part of her straightness and her whiteness; however, it is pretty poor analysis to say "this is because i'm straight" without then pivoting, at least for a moment, to consider the alternate perspective. particularly insane because she is analyzing the sonnets that inspired or were used in these movies in the context of the fair youth poems! in the context of a queer history! what on earth was she thinking!

(a further absurdity: she thanks lee edelman for being her teacher in the acknowledgements.)

i went into this book expecting a higher level of critical reflection than i got, which is perhaps on me. as a collection of personal-critical essays, it's fine; for a reader more interested in the personal side, it may be a better fit.

thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

goodreads review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4563010341

An intuitive, very personal work that emphasises how poetry can be accessible, relevant and enjoyable to the layman and (high school) student. How barriers and stigmas that so often surround the validity and legitimacy of poetry can be broken down.
Poetry’s influences are all around, in culture, politics, etc., and this work should encourage teens/young adults in particular to find their voice.

“Poetry has leapt out of its world and into <i>the</i> world”

A very inspiring read. I would love to sit in on a lecture or meet the author in person!

My thanks to NetGalley and NYU Press for granting this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Some amazing poems in this collection. Loved the authors writing style and generally loved this book.

Another great entry in this series of brief books focusing on a knowledgeable author’s personal essays on a topic. In this one, Jacquelyn Ardam, who formerly taught classes on poetry, argues that poetry is now mainstream, thanks to social media. While her chapter on internet poetry certainly supports her claim, I unfortunately do not think as many people are reading poetry as should.

Regardless, this is an enjoyable easy read that will encourage you to seek out new poets, and excuse your secret dislike of enormously popular poets (ahem). It will also make you laugh out loud.

Trump supporters will not appreciate some comments in the book, but I can’t imagine many would read a book on poetry anyway. I wish I could have taken one of Ardam’s classes when she taught in Maine. #AvidlyReadsPoetry #NetGalley

Avidly Reads Poetry has four chapters: the sonnet, the alphabet poem, the documentary poem, and the internet poem. Although I was expecting a chapter about sonnets, I was surprised by the focus on the abecedarian. By sharing her in-depth knowledge, readers will undoubtedly gain new insight into this form that children often first encounter in alphabet books. As an educator, I appreciated the chapter on the documentary poem the most because the author talked about her experiences teaching a university class titled "Poetry as Resistance: Remixing the Archive" which included works such as "Zong!" by M. NourbeSe Philip and "38" by Long Soldier. As such, this book showcases Ardam's personal and professional experiences with poems--it is a book that only she could write, but one that many readers can enjoy.

“In the 1990s, poems existed for me in books and in my brain and then maybe you could read them aloud to make someone fall in love with you, but that was it. These days, poetry happens on the internet.”

Genre: Nonfiction, Poetry
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Content Warnings: Mentions racism, sexism, SA

This is the type of non-fiction book I love. The ones with personal narrators that know they don’t have everything figured out. The ones with narrators that are willing to ask questions and don’t seem afraid to make mistakes.

I didn’t love how the narrator assumed we were all in or from the United States, but I also get it, I guess? They’re writing for their demographic, their usual readers. Too bad I’m not in or from the US. Also, I didn’t like the criticism to Kaur... it felt kind of condescending at parts but to each their own.

Something I did love, tho, was how diverse the poetry verses used as examples were. The author really did quote everything from Walt Whitman and Shakespeare to the poem read in 10 Things I Hate About You, a movie that’s a cult classic at this point.

I would recommend this book to all poetry lovers that are into nonfiction, but also to everyone who’s even remotely interested in poetry. This is NOT a poetry book. It’s a book about poetry (and there are a few poetry verses here and there, but that’s it).

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

“The grief is not finished but the poem is. The art of losing this beloved is impossible to master, but still, you go through your motions, you make your rhymes, you complete your stanza, you finish the poem because that is all there is to do. The beloved is gone but the poetry remains. And that will have to be enough (Write it!) for now.”

I quite liked it actually, it was quite for me to get into the magical world of the words and escape the reality.