Beautiful & Pointless: A Guide to Modern Poetry - Softcover

Orr, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061673463 ISBN 13: 9780061673467

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2019

Synopsis

Title: Beautiful & Pointless( A Guide to Modern Poetry) <>Binding: Paperback <>Author: DavidOrr <>Publisher: HarperPerennial

About this title

Review:

""Beautiful and Pointless" holds a mirror up to the poetry world itself. Orr starts from a brilliantly accurate characterization of what it feels like to read a poem, which should be up on the wall in every high school English classroom."--"Slate"

"With "Beautiful & Pointless", Orr mingles humor with analysis in a way that should provide fodder for novices and academics in equal measure."--"The Onion"

""Beautiful & Pointless" is a clear-eyed, opinionated, and idiosyncratic guide to a vibrant but endangered art form, essential reading for anyone who loves poetry, and also for those of us who mostly just admire it from afar."--Tom Perrotta

"A passionate, nimble little book."--David Kirby, "The New York Times Book Review"

"With "Beautiful & Pointless," Orr mingles humor with analysis in a way that should provide fodder for novices and academics in equal measure."--"The Onion"

"Beautiful and Pointless" holds a mirror up to the poetry world itself. Orr starts from a brilliantly accurate characterization of what it feels like to read a poem, which should be up on the wall in every high school English classroom. --"Slate""

With "Beautiful & Pointless," Orr mingles humor with analysis in a way that should provide fodder for novices and academics in equal measure. --"The Onion""

A passionate, nimble little book. --David Kirby, "The New York Times Book Review""

Equal parts friendly invitation for the uninitiated into the joys and possibilities of reading poetry for the uninitiated and opinionated cultural critique of the contemporary American poetry scene. . . . The book covers a heck of a lot without getting lost in the esoteric. --"Publishers Weekly" (starred review)"

David Orr is an authentic iconoclast. His criticism is exuberant and original. Dr. Johnson, my critical hero, urged us to clear our mind of cant. Orr has cleared his. He will enhance the perception of his readers. And he wins my heart by his love for Edward Lear. --Harold Bloom"

From the Back Cover:

Contemporary poetry may seem like a foreign country you've barely visited and wouldn't dream of living in. Beautiful & Pointless, however, reveals how to accept the foreignness of poetry in the same way we accept the strange delights of a place we're traveling to for the first time. Expect a little confusion, many delightful surprises, and a few experiences that will change the way you think about language and life.

Award-winning critic David Orr is what every reader hopes for: the guide who points the way, doesn't talk too much, and helps you see what you might have missed on your own. Stimulating, amusing, and utterly engrossing, Beautiful & Pointless empowers us to engage with poetry as individual readers, allowing each of us to appreciate it in our own way.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0061673463
• ISBN 13: 9780061673467
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240