Inhabit the Poem: Last Essays

Inhabit the Poem: Last Essays by Helen Vendler

Poetry has a much greater "density" and requires more time and focus to read. The author of this book has taken it to an even greater extreme.  Each chapter typically starts with a poem. Then she starts to analyze the poem. Then the analysis goes off on tangents, bringing in other poems or the life of the poet or cultural events that may have a slight relationship to the poem. I got quite lost with some. My favorite one was Epitaph on a Hare by Cowper. The poem is a bit bizarre, but the analysis actually sheds light on the poem and the importance the poet had on the animal. Other poems are just as likely to talk about the poet as other poets that have referenced the poem. The author provided a simple definition of important poems: "poems that future poets continue to reference". That might be the most useful insight in the book.