Perhaps the author is right that the media and public perception exaggerate the status of poetry as dead. I can’t say much about contemporary poetry, but, from the old books I read, I can’t help but feel something isn’t there today that used to be. Maybe older works have a bias for poetry because of education or some other factor, but it felt more ingrained, globally, more a part of who we are as humans.
I think it is two parts alternative entertainment, one part childhood education.
When you have digital video, easy access to long distance travel, broadcast television and radio music, video games and such, the emotional impact of a clever turn of phrase is utterly lost. Families don't sit around and listen to someone sing or tell stories, we're all of entertaining ourselves in our own ways, letting the rest of the world be creative for us.
As for the education bit, kids learn the thinnest veneer of what poetry is- slap some rhymes together for homework and move on. I recall seeing a young poet at the white house a few years back that everyone was falling over themselves to praise, and... I didn't get it, at all. It was nothing more than a political screed masquerading as rhyming prose. Even the rhymes felt either forced or at the least uninspired.
On the other hand, there is this:
Edit: this is the link I was originally meaning to share, but I'll leave the second after. This first one is more academic, the second a simple review of the song 's structure
https://youtu.be/ooOL4T-BAg0
