'To Be or Not to Be' No Longer the Question for Poetry

Internet gives ancient art form a boost
By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 28, 2009 6:07 PM CST
'To Be or Not to Be' No Longer the Question for Poetry
Poet Billy Collins reads a poem during the Library Of Congress Gershwin Prize For Popular Song Gala at the Warner Theater May 23, 2007 in Washington, DC.   (Getty Images)

Poetry is not going gently into that good night, having been energized by the very tool predicted to kill it: the Internet, reports the Telegraph. Email, social networking sites, and online media players are helping poets win over new audiences. “It’s counter-intuitive,” marveled poet Richard Price. Poetry reading groups and live readings are multiplying now that aficionados are organizing online.

“These reading series often have Facebook groups” which help build solidarity, Price explained. British Poet Laureate Andrew Motion argued that online readings have returned the ancient art form to its oratorical roots. “The last 1,000 years is not exactly an aberration, but a long loop,” he said, concluding that poetry’s problem wasn’t “one of appetite, but of delivery.”
(More poetry stories.)

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