Can Poetry Matter?

Tenth Anniversary Edition

In 1991, Dana Gioia’s provocative essay “Can Poetry Matter?” was published by the Atlantic Monthly and received more reader response than any other piece in the magazine’s history—igniting an international debate on the role of poetry in contemporary culture. In his celebrated book, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Gioia more fully addresses poetry’s place in modern American society.

The author of two widely praised books of poems, Gioia is one of the more stimulating and provocative figures on our literary horizon. This collection of essays addresses such subjects as the poet as businessman and New Formalism as the real avant-garde, while also including pieces on the life and work of such diverse figures as Robinson Jeffers, Weldon Kees, Elizabeth Bishop, and Wallace Stevens.