The Hatred of Poetry

The main argument is that we hate poetry because it doesn't match up with a platonic ideal of what poetry could be, or could do. Sometimes tho, I have no idea what poetry is trying to do so I'm glad to read someone else talk about it. I was also glad when Lerner, in talking about the desire for poetry to be both individual + universal, points out the bias of one critic in assuming only white men can really speak for everyone and that no men could relate to Sylvia Plath's “Daddy” or example.