In September, the National Endowment for the Arts published surprising new data: poetry reading in the United States has almost doubled over five years. A 2012 NEA survey had found that only 7 percent of Americans had read poetry in the previous year, while the 2017 survey found 12 percent had. The NEA previewed these data in a blog post back in June.

As a poet and a teacher of poetry and poetics, I naturally welcome the good news, even if the 12 percent readership still places poetry, statistically, somewhere between taking acting classes (7 percent in 2012) and attending a performance of salsa music (29 percent in 2012). While I’d like to believe it’s my annual Studies in Poetry undergraduate seminar that’s made the difference, I think something else is going on. [read more]

Inside Higher Ed 19 November 2018