Beautiful & Pointless: A Guide to Modern Poetry [Paperback]

David Orr (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 13, 2012

"David Orr is no starry-eyed cheerleader for contemporary poetry; Orr’s a critic, and a good one. . . . 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

Award-winning New York Times Book Review poetry columnist David Orr delivers an engaging, amusing, and stimulating tour through the world of poetry. With echoes of Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer, Orr’s Beautiful & Pointless offers a smart and funny approach to appreciating an art form that many find difficult to embrace.

Editorial Reviews

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 )

“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 )

“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 )

“David Orr reminds us that poetry is an ancient and living art, a robust American art, and not a commodity or vehicle for self-expression, social betterment, or career enhancement. He argues his case with passion, eloquence, erudition and good sense - and, as is his custom, not a little moxy.” (August Kleinzahler )

“A short, lively guidebook. . . . With informal spirit and playful wit, Orr invites readers to disagree with him. . . . He comes across as an engaged, discriminating reader-critic concerned with examining rather than selling us a product.” (William H. Pritchard, Commonweal )

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


“David Orr reminds us that poetry is an ancient and living art, a robust American art, and not a commodity or vehicle for self-expression, social betterment, or career enhancement. He argues his case with passion, eloquence, erudition and good sense - and, as is his custom, not a little moxy.”—August Kleinzahler

'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


“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)


“A passionate, nimble little book.”—David Kirby, The New York Times Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (March 13, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061673463
• ISBN-13: 978-0061673467
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars For Poets and Poetry Readers February 19, 2011

By Ken C. TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

First off, BEAUTIFUL & POINTLESS is a fine title, and David Orr is a witty author. He brings a sense of brio and humor to his task, but he doesn't accomplish what he sets out to -- namely, to write a poetry book that Everyman can read and enjoy. Meaning? You're probably not going to get through this book, brief as it is, unless you a.) read poetry already, or b.) are a poet already.

Why? For one, Orr dives into such niche-specific subject matter as poetic forms, poetic "giants" (who deserves to be famous, who doesn't), and, most insider of all, poetic cliques of academia. I suppose you could argue that the last is important enough to get its own chapter, but most people would simply shrug and say, "Who cares -- do I really want to read about insider fighting among poets whose names I've never heard of and never will?" (Rhetorical question, of course.) Personally, I was not surprised that academia has affected (infected?) poetry-writing the way MFA programs have given us a "Writers' Workshop" style of novel, complete with scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-yours blurbs of adoration from one novelist to another (the teacher or a classmate, usually). It comes as no surprise that the same is true of university poetry departments. After all, from corporate drawing rooms to middle school cafeterias, this is how the world works. I would have preferred to learn more about modern poets who are possibly the next Elizabeth Bishops or Robert Frosts, about techniques in favor and out, about, finally, what Everyman actually reads and why.

A little of that drifts in toward the end in the final chapter, "why bother?", which I found the strongest. Orr shares of himself, how as a schoolboy in South Carolina he became interested in poetry (credit goes not to a teacher but to Philip Larkin), and how he helped his father's rehab by speaking poetry aloud with him (his father suffered a stroke, which impacted his ability to speak). Here the book hits its stride because, like good poetry, it becomes personal yet universal, mundane yet unique.

I recommend the book, then, to fans of poetry (and, if you've read this far, you're no doubt one of them). If you're on the outside trying to figure the whole thing out, your quest should continue.

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Aaaaargh! I'm to review this book? March 23, 2011

By M. J. Smith VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

This is a delightful little book - you can get halfway through while waiting for your car to be repaired and count it as a useful afternoon. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that the book achieves it's goal. This is a book that you could easily see chapters as having been essays in the New York Times Book Review. You can see the NYT Book Reviews readers (including myself) saying "that is well written", "that is an interesting perspective", "I need to keep an eye out for reviews by Orr".

However, David Orr intends to expand the reader pool for modern poetry. To a large extent his non-technical introduction should achieve that end. His division of form into metrical, resemblance, and mechanical provides an excellent framework - especially giving the mechanical (think Oulipo)poetry a place to fit. However, the majority of the poets he selects are poets-of-academia (poets you are assigned to read, not discover by word of mouth). To add to the "insult" he makes reference to poets and poems without including them, leaving the reader to (a) look it up online or (b) feel they've missed the point. In his discussion of political poetry we meet Brooks, Auden and Ryan ... but not the names that come to my mind when considering political poetry - Ginzberg, Forche, Levertov ... Perhaps I expected too broad a definition of "Modern Poetry" but Orr did not meet my expectations.

However, if you read poetry journals or wish to read poetry journals or even wish to pretend to read poetry journals, Orr provides some excellent insights into modern poetry and it well worth your time.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Serious Play February 7, 2011

By Robin Friedman HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

David Orr is a young man with the rare good fortune of combining both a vocation and an avocation. He is a practicing attorney and a graduate of Yale Law School. Orr is also a noted critic of modern poetry who writes regularly for the well-known New York Times and for the less well-known "Poetry" magazine. Orr's most recent article in the latter publication is titled "Poetry of and About", and it combines his vocation and avocation. The article examines a new anthology of poems loosely related to the law. Most readers will be unfamiliar with "Poetry". But Orr's new and first book, "Rare and Pointless: A Guide to Modern Poetry" develops some of the themes of the article in a way that is intended to appeal to readers with little familiarity with the bewildering world of contemporary poetry.

Orr's book is designed to introduce contemporary poetry to the large majority of readers who have no acquaintance with it. He writes in a free, informal, and inviting style which serves to invite readers who, with substantial reason, will regard modern poetry as a forbidding, arcane art form. Orr also has a gift for a quirky, idiosyncratic turn of phrase. He introduces startling and seemingly unconnected figures of a sudden and out of the blue before turning to show how the introduction pertains to the matter at hand -- much in the way some poets may introduce a difficult metaphor. How does Orr want the reader to approach contemporary poems? Many readers might think that this involves a quasi-spiritual approach or a technical approach with close attention to meter, metaphor, and language. But Orr wants the reader to approach poetry in the manner of -- Belgium. It is a matter of travelling to a foreign country about which one initially knows a little but not much. The traveller may pick up some guides and basic information in advance and then learn and follow his interest as he goes along. So it is with modern poetry which is best approached, for Orr, in a spirit of openness and adventure with the expectation that the journey will prove strange and that one may at times get lost along the way.

Orr tries to give the reader some guideposts to modern poetry. More important, he describes his own love for the art while trying to explain how and why poetry might matter to people or be important. Thus in his several chapters Orr tries to capture some themes and tendencies of contemporary poetry. He explains the current academic-like atmosphere in which poetry is written and struggles to describe the love and the hold of poetry. His chapters combine his own quirky observations and writing with illustrations which usually consist of segments of different poems that show competing tendencies in poetry. In general, Orr is most effective when he discusses specific poems and poets.

The guidelines Orr offers to modern poetry include chapters on "the personal" -- what this may be and how it is reflected in different poems, "the political" -- which examines how poetical speech sometimes is related to political speech, "form" -- a fine chapter which includes much more than a discussion of the difference between metric poetry and free verse, "ambition" -- and most of which consists of an insightful discussion of the differences in poetic style between two modern American masters who were close friends, Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop, These chapters are originally and easily written. I think they will help many readers as a stepping-off point.

There are a couple of depressingly gossipy chapters in the book about poetry and the modern university (a theme of the magazine article I mentioned at the outset of this review) which are less edifying to read but probably still of value for a newcomer to the world of poetry. Then Orr concludes the book with a personal and candid discussion of the broad question of the book: why read poetry at all. Here again, Orr writes in a peppery way which both acknowledges and deflates certain shibboleths. Orr points to the effort required to get to know poetry and the personal, not entirely explainable character of human choice. Orr writes:

"[I]t's hard to describe what red looks like, or how one's relationship with a child or parent feels. The same is true of poetry. I can't tell you why you should bother to read poems, or to write them; I can only say that if you do choose to give your attention to poetry, as against all the other things you might turn to instead, that choice can be meaningful. There's little grandeur in this, maybe, but out of such small, unnecessary devotions is the abundance of our lives sometimes made evident." (p. 179)

Orr is an admirer of, among others, Robert Frost and quotes this well-known American writer several times in his book. In his article in "Poetry", Orr deals at some length with Frost's poem "Two Tramps in Mud Time" with its famous concluding lines:

"My object in living is to unite
My avocation and my vocation
As my two eyes make one in sight.

Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
for Heaven and the future's sakes."

Frost's poem of earnest playfullness seems to me to capture much of the allure of modern poetry for Orr. His book should help to guide some readers in the direction of poetry.

Robin Friedman