52 ways of looking at a poem, or, How reading modern poetry can change your life Book

'(...) the point was not convincing anyone that my way of reading a poem was right, but giving people tools to help them to read the poem for themselves.'

I want to salute Ruth Padel's enterprise here for two reasons. First, because she offers a great snapshot of what the contemporary poetical landscape is, served by an introduction, incisive, succinct and brilliant, which is so far the best history I have ever read on British poetry today. Then, because she manages to teach poetical jargon illustrated in context without any fuss nor pretence, being always relevant and not needlessly pedantic.

Now, true, as everything dealing with critical analysis it can easily turn into intellectual babbling and, wordy, hers reads indeed at times like boring school homework. One doesn't have to agree with her comments, thought; as she herself rightly acknowledges. True also, as every compilation the poems being chosen can be highly subjective, and so confer a sense of unbalance to the whole. Sadly, this is where, personally, I have lost interest.

The thing is, I dislike most of established contemporary poetry with a passion. I find it needlessly pretentious, self-absorbed, as creative and moving as phonebooks put in stanzas and, yes, elitist. Hence, as she focuses on contemporary poetry, obviously most of the poems chosen are, well, as far as I am concerned... ! But it's a matter of personal taste and, considering mine, me not being able/willing to engage with most of them was frankly expected.

Should I dismiss this book then? Certainly not. It remains a great way to not only discover what most poetry is at these days but, also, a nice tool to help on how to read it, so... At least hat off for such a feat!