The Virtues of Poetry

Recenly, I've finished a good book of criticism by James Longenbach entitled The Virtues of Poetry. This book is a series of interconnected essays that discuss quite a range of poets, and tackle some of the less cited poetic virtues. Normally one would think that "truth," or "beauty," or something else equally subjective, but Longenbach surprises of with more objective virtues like compression, dilation, shyness, excess, and others. Indeed Longenbach discusses the virtues of the art form, and, if nothing else, gives us an excellent primer into what makes peotry powerful, fascinating, and transformative.

Don't get me wrong, these essays are not fluff pieces. They are incredibly illuminating. One of the most interesting, and compelling, points is an argument against reading parts out of context, or not considering the whole context of the poem when reading its parts, and for au understanding to the whole experience of the poem. This is most clear in the essay "Writing Badly," where he says, "the effect of a particular aesthetic gesture is never predictably good or bad in itself; its success depends on the relationship to other effects" (54). So questions of value are, for Longenbach, only relevant and crucial when contemplating the whole design. We cannot, and should not, decide if an effect is "good writing" without first understanding the whole work. Then we determine what the purpose of a particular section may be, and if that purpose tightens the weave of the work, then it is valuable. His comparisons to music also help his example. A G-major chord repeated five successive times in an opus Beethoven by itself is not good music. But when understood in context of the whole work, it suddenly becomes an emotional linchpin between two longer sections. Such is the case with poetry. 

Another virtue of the book is how Longenbach puts us in touch with the elements of writing in English. The closing chapter "All Changed," deals with tenses of English and their accompanying modes. Several times in the book meter and tone are discussed, as is placement of predicates. Longenbach continually reminds us that poems are all "formal mechanisms, forged from the limited resources of the language" (84). How those resources are
extracted, whether they are used, manipulated, or broken completely, is a crucial part in deciding what makes a poem. And we would do well to remember that poems are not a mystical experience, but crafted human imagination.

The Virtues of Poetry truly is an excellent book. It is clear, concise, witty, and entertaining. In fact there is nothing negative I can say about it at all. Though, this book isn't, for me, as life changing as is his earlier work, The Art of the Poetic Line. Anyone who is interested in an incredible work on how that aspect of poetry works should absolutely pick up a copy of this book. You will learn much about the craft of poetry. Longenbach is also a masterful critic. His work on Yeats, Pound, Eliot and Stevens is required reading for anyone interested in those authors. Stone Cottage and The Plain Sense of Things have helped crystallize critical attitudes towards these authors, but have also made their work incredibly clear. Not an easy thing to achieve.

Though with all this talk of virtues of poetry, I wonder if there are other virtues unique to poetry. Many qualities that immediately spring to mind, like intimacy or immediacy, aren't strictly unique to poetry. There are plenty of paintings, films, and songs that share those qualities. Or if we are seeking a complete expression of the imagination, that can apply to any art. If there is anything that makes poetry distinct, it is the attention to how the human voice is constructed, and how a voice shapes and reveals personality. Maybe that isn't exactly a virtue, but it sure is power.