The resistance to poetry - Longenbach, James (University of Chicago Press, 2004)
Includes bibliographical references (p. [109]-118) and index
The Resistance to Poetry -- The End of the Line -- Forms of Disjunction -- Song and Story -- Untidy Activity -- The Spokenness of Poetry -- The Other Hand -- Leaving Things Out -- Composed Wonder
Poems convey knowledge, argues Longenbach, but do so in forms that work against their being facile vehicles for the efficient transmission of knowledge. This self-resistance is the source of the reader's pleasure: we read poetry not to escape difficulty but to embrace it