Tag Archives: poets

Just wondering: Do you have to be a poet to edit poetry?

Don Paterson, an editor and a poet, claim[s] that “A non-poet can’t do a line-edit on a poem”; it is essential for an editor to be a poet, too.

Michael Schmidt, the editor of Carcanet Press and PN Review, added that the job can be tricky when grappling with the work of someone from a different culture. “If you’re publishing a Zimbabwean poet or a poet from India or New Zealand, they’ll speak a language different from your own,” he said, adding, “This is an issue between genders as well.”

Both these points are slightly disquieting. If only poets can edit the work of another, does that mean that only poets fully comprehend the work?

Contemporary poetry: Do you have to be a poet to edit poetry? | The Economist.

Celebrate Poetry!

Edna St. Vincent Millay asked, “To what purpose, April, do you return again?” For National Poetry Month, of course!  National Poetry Month is a month-long, national celebration of poetry.  The concept, according to the Academy of American Poets is “to widen the attention of individuals and the media—to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our complex poetic heritage, and to poetry books and journals of wide aesthetic range and concern.”  Stop by the Todd Library display and reintroduce yourself to the pleasure of reading poetry!poetry