Poetry and Uselessness: From Coleridge to Ashbe, Archambeau..

Robert Archambeau

Poetry and UselessnessFrom Coleridge to Ashbery\nAuthor(s): Robert Archambeau\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge\nISBN-13: 9780367207366, 978-0367207366\nSynopsis\n[url] Auden famously claimed \""poetry makes nothing happen.\"" That may or may not be the case, but the idea that poetry makes nothing happen has, itself, been extremely influential, and has made a great deal happen in the world. This book examines several of the main currents in literary history as that influential idea flows through poetry and into the wider world. Since the invention of the idea, it has influenced theories of education; helped legitimize the entry of the middle class into political life; spawned ideas of symbolism that are still with us; formed a bulwark protecting literary culture from the commercial world; helped create the artistic subculture of bohemia; informed queer discourse and identity; and helped create both contemporary literary taste and.