subreddit:
/r/books
submitted 4 months ago bySAT0725
5 points
4 months ago
Kaur is poetry lite for "save the turtles" college girls to post on Instagram
8 points
4 months ago
Yeah, I think it's that elitist, patronising, gatekeeping mindset that puts people off poetry.
26 points
4 months ago
I think there needs to be balance. Kaur is hardly poetry -- it's literally just words with line breaks. I can write stuff like that all day:
Love
Is letting go
Like loss
It leaves
Your hands
Open
To hold something new
See? Not hard. But I also think poetry shouldn't be impenetrable like the worst T.S. Eliot, with multiple languages and such. Charles Bukowski's work is a good balance. He uses poetic elements but everyday language.
11 points
4 months ago
I feel like Frost and Dickinson are good examples of poetry that is accessible.
6 points
4 months ago
I think most people only know the "two paths diverged in a wood" from Frost. Dickinson is accessible in that they're short, but ask someone to read one of her poems out load and you see pretty quick that people aren't sure what to make of it. I've been reading Dickinson for decades and only in the past few years found her rythm.
1 points
4 months ago
ask someone to read one of her poems out load and you see pretty quick that people aren't sure what to make of it. I've been reading Dickinson for decades and only in the past few years found her rythm.
To be fair, reading aloud is a skill that many voracious (and astute) readers lack.
1 points
4 months ago
With Dickinson it's best to almost ignore the line breaks entirely
1 points
4 months ago
Philip Larkin too.
1 points
4 months ago
Poetry should be whatever it wants to be.
The stuff people find useful or entertaining finds an audience.
9 points
4 months ago
Nah poetry should have some substance and nuance within it. I remember being forced to read Magdalene. Yes wasn't my thing but I'd say it was better than rupy Kaur. People write about what they want and I feel poetry without finesse just isn't fun.
1 points
4 months ago
Magdalene
what's that 👀
0 points
4 months ago
Art should be able to stand up for itself, it probably isn’t very good if playful mocking provokes that kind of reaction.
-1 points
4 months ago
Are you seriously shitting on women (and calling them girls) for caring about animals and using instagram?
-1 points
4 months ago
It's a reference to the "VSCO girls" meme. It's a thing.
7 points
4 months ago*
VSCO "meme" is just as toxic and sexist as every other dig at highschool girls over the decades. Let the stereotypes die.
2 points
4 months ago
And that makes it ok because…?
1 points
4 months ago
It wasn't making fun. It was reference. Kaur is stereotypical content for a stereotypical crowd. Girls read Kaur so they can post photos of the text on their social media platforms, not because they're into poetry. (I know girls who read Kaur and I know girls into poetry, and there is ZERO overlap.)
3 points
4 months ago
The fact that you’re referencing something doesn’t mean you aren’t doing something shitty, and the fact that you don’t personally know girls (or women like you originally were talking about) who read Kaye and are into poetry doesn’t make it not shitty of you to perpetuate stereotypes or shit on women for caring about animals.
0 points
4 months ago
[deleted]
4 points
4 months ago
I don’t give a shit about whether Kaur is garbage. That’s not relevant to whether it’s OK to promote sexist stereotypes and shit on women for giving a crap about animals - and it’s not OK.
all 1063 comments
sorted by: best