Is poetry popular in your country?

[nyka]

Hi everybody!

It would be interesting to know how popular is poetry in your country? How many copies are sold an average? Is poet able to live from his writing?

[Mrs. Dalloway]

Not in my country. Some years ago it was more popular and some great poets were able to live from it. But now, only best seller prose is popular. It's sad, really.

[Neely]

Good question I think. In the UK poetry is not a popular medium in terms of the general public and hasn't been for over a hundred years since the likes of Tennyson and Browning.

As for making a living from writing poetry alone Tennyson was perhaps the last person to be able to do so too. I'm sure that there are those that make a fair living from writing poetry today together with public readings and workshops teaching etc, but not in terms of writing alone.

As regards poetry and the general public I wouldn't have thought that poetry was popular anywhere in the world, certainly not over mediums such as the novel and definitely TV and the new medias, I would like to see a country whose populous prefer poetry to TV but I am sure that one doesn't exist.

How about your country?

[Tournesol]

Poetry in my country [Trinidad and Tobago], and in the Caribbean region generally, is enjoyed by the masses in the form of lyrics to Calypsoes or Soca [so-kah] music.
A poet would almost certainly not be able to live off of that profession, unless it is subsidised in some way, either via creation of his/her own music, or via selling his/her poems to the musician.

[bacchante]

Hi everybody!

It would be interesting to know how popular is poetry in your country? How many copies are sold an average? Is poet able to live from his writing?

Not at all popular. Contemporary poetry is almost totally absent. And this is not only about poetry but writing i general. Sad condition.......

[Taliesin]

Hmmh.
I'd guess that poets really wouldn't be able to live off solely from writing but that's because Estonian is a small country and a small language and poetry often doesn't survive the translation.
I am not very sure about the popularity- there are a number of contemporary authors who are bought too, but don't know much about the large scale. Still, I think that Estonian poetry is stronger than Estonian prose.

[meh!]

dunoo really. It's got a lot of 'posts' for poets like the makar (edwin morgan) glasgow's laureate (liz lochhead). 'local' poets seem pretty popular. Foreign poetry is as popular as it is anywhere but scottish poetry is probably a bit more popular.

I've always liked the fact that scotland's 'national figure' is a poet.

[librarius_qui]

how popular is poetry in your country? How many copies are sold an average? Is poet able to live from his writing?

A poet is able to live from his poetry anywhere.
In Brasil, he'll have a tough life. It's possible. I knew some. But they ... have a sort of a tramp/franciscan philosophy of life.

I'm not quite aware of the numbers, but I know that poetry doesn't sell as much as other genres, specially (best-selling) romance.

If you think about being a writer, I'd suggest you to get a job, and write appart. (That's what I do.) Unless you're rich, of course.

[Lokasenna]

Good question I think. In the UK poetry is not a popular medium in terms of the general public and hasn't been for over a hundred years since the likes of Tennyson and Browning.

As for making a living from writing poetry alone Tennyson was perhaps the last person to be able to do so too. I'm sure that there are those that make a fair living from writing poetry today together with public readings and workshops teaching etc, but not in terms of writing alone.

As regards poetry and the general public I wouldn't have thought that poetry was popular anywhere in the world, certainly not over mediums such as the novel and definitely TV and the new medias, I would like to see a country whose populous prefer poetry to TV but I am sure that one doesn't exist.

How about your country?

I think there's quiet a good poetry background in Britain. There was quite a strong degree of media interest in the selection of the new poet laureate, and BBC4 is running an excellent season of programs about poetry. Last night there was a fascinating documentary on John Donne, which was in a prime slot, and heavily advertised in the TV guides. I think that if you asked any random chap on the street about poetry, they would probably be able to quote something, even if it was just a bit of Wordsworth's ever-popular I wandered lonely as a cloud.

In all, I think Britain is probably one of the more poetically aware countries.

[librarius_qui]

In all, I think Britain is probably one of the more poetically aware countries.

What he said makes some sense ...

Everything is "merchantry" in America. You might find more space to art in general in a (kind of a mythical) Europe (because life is hard there, as everywhere else).

The world is hard, so, leave delusions away, and know this: you'll have to work hard to live. Of whatever it may be!, art (litterature), selling, weaving, teaching ... Whatever you do, it'll demand of you same effort, no matter where you go. It's a delusion to think things are going to be easier away of your own country. Maybe there will be some interesting experiences to live abroad, all right, but, in the end, you'll only find out that you are a foreigner, and that you miss people and places you love, because you grew up there ...

(Or not )

This is what I think about leaving a country.

(For whatever reason, including devotion to poetry.)~

[JBI]

What he said makes some sense ...

Everything is "merchantry" in America. You might find more space to art in general in a (kind of a mythical) Europe (because life is hard there, as everywhere else).

The world is hard, so, leave delusions away, and know this: you'll have to work hard to live. Of whatever it may be!, art (litterature), selling, weaving, teaching ... Whatever you do, it'll demand of you same effort, no matter where you go. It's a delusion to think things are going to be easier away of your own country. Maybe there will be some interesting experiences to live abroad, all right, but, in the end, you'll only find out that you are a foreigner, and that you miss people and places you love, because you grew up there ...

(Or not )

This is what I think about leaving a country.

(For whatever reason, including devotion to poetry.)~

I don't know - after a month and a half I wasn't excited to return - I doubt a year would phase me - I doubt 10 would do much. Generally, I find myself quite adaptable to different settings and cultures. Most of my friends aren't in Toronto most of the year anyway, so it makes no real difference - attachment is a construct, perpetuated by fear of or inability to adapt to a foreign setting. Language is perhaps the greatest perpetuator, as it is the main connector between people outside of Blood, so removal from a linguistic frame can be difficult. Certainly though, when I go away for a year in 2 years (if everything works out like I pray it will) I doubt I'll care much.

As for poetry - generally the poorer countries in the world (GDP speaking, and HDI speaking) seem to have stronger poetic traditions and capabilities, in the sense that poetry isn't merely text the way it is within "Occidental (I don't like to use this word)" contemporary culture. I think that when a Bard writes something in the Middle East, for instance, it carries more cultural weight than a whole volume of poetry by even a good Canadian poet.

Occidental culture is hardly built to last, and changes day and night. I think Japan right now is the culture that changes the fastest, with celebrities only lasting a couple of years, and new ones popping up and dying every 5 minutes. How long can something last within that frame? Darwish's poetry on the other hand, won't be shaken for a while yet I reckon, even if the geopolitical context changes in the West Bank and Gaza, and the Middle East in general.

[Niamh]

I think now a days the only two peots that really make money from there writing in my country are Seamus Heaney and Paul Durkin. BUt poetry is still popular here. we even have poems on our trains.

[meh!]

There was a really bad poem on the subway in glasgow, i felt so bad for the guy who'd written it.

[librarius_qui]

As for poetry - generally the poorer countries in the world (GDP speaking, and HDI speaking) seem to have stronger poetic traditions and capabilities, in the sense that poetry isn't merely text the way it is within "Occidental (I don't like to use this word)" contemporary culture. I think that when a Bard writes something in the Middle East, for instance, it carries more cultural weight than a whole volume of poetry by even a good Canadian poet.

Occidental culture is hardly built to last, and changes day and night. I think Japan right now is the culture that changes the fastest, with celebrities only lasting a couple of years, and new ones popping up and dying every 5 minutes. How long can something last within that frame? Darwish's poetry on the other hand, won't be shaken for a while yet I reckon, even if the geopolitical context changes in the West Bank and Gaza, and the Middle East in general.

The question wasn't about fame. It was about selling: "can a man live of poetry?" ... According to a capitalist view. I agree with you that in the Western world, things aren't, conciously, made to last; however, some things last randomly. We cannot forsee what will last, because a huge amount is produced, and in the big cities (NY, Rio, ...) most everyone "is a poet/writer", and only time will tell which of them will last, independant of merits, in cases (...). As you said, there may be 10 Canadian "poets" (self called, perhaps ...), and one Muslim poet (who might not even consider himself so), and the Muslim is definitely better than all the 10 Canadians together.

This is the main reason I tell people that they should not think about live (=make money/sell) out of their writing. To have a salary, you have to do a constant work, and art isn't necessarily a constant production. Journalism may be (unfortunately ...), but not art. This is my view, of course.

Unless, like some ... poets (?) in Brasil, who actually live like tramps, and don't have great expectations of a common life (i.e. living in a nice place, being well with their families (parents), thinking about settling down, with a wife, have kids ... Things that mortal thingies (like me) think about ...

Live of art is delusion, unless you make it a product. Painting seems to be at the same time easier and more difficult, but poetry? It's complete delusion. Good poetry seldom sells and, when it sells, and the poet tries to make more to keep selling, 99% chance he's been corrupted, and is doing the same thing, and not something actually good as the first, and he's doing it in order to sell, not poetry anylonger, but a name that has achieved a certain value in the market. And fools will buy it. (And it happens more with fictional literature, and very difficultly with poetry. I consider good writing posthumous, poetry even more than that. Unless the "poet" is a jester, in a modern court (...).)

Paruos~

[mono]

I come from the United States, a very large country, so it seems difficult to advocate for all parts of the country, but more for certain sections of it. For the majority of the States, I do not feel optimistic enough to give an affirmative to the original question, and what seems popular emerges from the bowels of Billy Collins, Elizabeth Alexander, Kenneth Koch, and Robert Pinsky; hence, what appears popular I would call better than nothing, so as to know that something other than Stephenie Meyer, Dan Brown, and J.K. Rowling get read, but personally I would not call it my cup of tea.
Where I live (Portland, Oregon), and many other major western cities (Seattle, San Francisco), there exist a lot of independent poetry readings, both original and previously published by dead-or-alive poets, so many local cafes and lounges have kept some decent poetry resuscitated, I feel relieved to say. Popular outside of academic circles? Not really, other than the aforementioned places.