# What was the last culturally significant poem? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** poetry\ **Created:** [December 21, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919 "2025-12-21T18:27:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/81 "2025-12-22T17:04:47Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Is poetry from oral traditions not poetry? It seems very odd to me to define poetry as limited to literature. I would think that it would be poetry. But in the situation for which you quoted me, we’re talking about a specific, modern literature award, and the Nobel committee isn’t awarding things from old oral traditions, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/82 "2025-12-22T17:41:44Z")
True. I took your post to be backing the OP’s refusal to accept anything sung; I may have misunderstood you. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/83 "2025-12-22T17:48:07Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Limiting it to written and/or spoken word verse is a teeny-tiny subset gifted with academic importance. It’s a little bit arbitrary, but not completely. I agree the cultural niche that contained poetry like 200 years ago, is now almost entirely taken over by pop music of various kinds. But ultimately songs have an arrangement, poems do not. And if you asked your average fan of a popular modern song if they were listening to poetry, most would say no. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/84 "2025-12-22T17:52:31Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I think “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron is the most culturally significant poem of the most recent famous poems. I consider Scott-Heron to be a genius on the level of early Dylan, but he may be the best example for a discussion about what is or isn’t a poem. The 50s Beat movement produced poets who excelled at spoken-word performances, relying on accompanying jazz or at least bongos providing a beat to the point of cliche. That’s still a meme. A black counterpart, The Last Poets, followed them in the 60s. In fact, his first version of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” appeared on his first album. _Small Talk at 125th and Lenox_ was a live album of spoken word pieces accompanied by bongos and congas that drive the beat. He calls the piece a “poem.” The 70s weren’t a good time for the beats, though. The words are fine but the atmosphere feels ancient. Scott-Heron had similar ties to jazz and he quickly created a collaboration with Brian Jackson, who was double-billed as the creator on the next seven albums. When he redid “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” with altered lyrics, on _Pieces of a Man_, Herbert Law’s flute, Ron Carter’s bass, and Bernard Purdie’s drums filled the background with music, and made the piece into a sensation. Rap artists cite The Last Poets and Scott-Heron as significant influences, sample them, and especially in the beginning relied heavily on bass and drums in similar ways. To my ear, early rap was slower and made the words far more easily understood. Scott-Heron wanted to words to hit hard, explicitly to the black community, but implicitly to whites who need to hear the criticism. Poetry, spoken-word, or song? That argument went on for decades. They obviously overlap. Only a sorting hat can decide. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/85 "2025-12-22T18:07:29Z")
Thinking about it, Gil Scott-Heron has probably had more impact on my world view than any other poet. I was an enthusiastic fan of space exploration and NASA until I heard “Whitey on the Moon”. And there it is; I wrote “heard”. If it was just words on a page, I probably would have never encountered it and perhaps still have a blindingly optimistic opinion about making space travel a priority. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/86 "2025-12-22T18:17:12Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Herbert Law’s flute Hubert. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/87 "2025-12-22T18:42:08Z")
WW1 ended in 1918, but Wikipedia has the last war in Afghanistan ending in 2021: > [@](#): > > When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, > And the women come out to cut up what remains, > Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains > An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier. > Go, go, go like a soldier, > Go, go, go like a soldier, > Go, go, go like a soldier, > So-oldier of the Queen! ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/88 "2025-12-22T18:49:24Z")
I’m surprised nobody yet has mentioned Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’? It’s not recent admittedly, but is was a pivotal point in verse evolution, and very controversial in its time. Sort of an end-point definitive evolution of verse away from traditional rhyme / scansion structures. Though on close examination it is very carefully crafted. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/89 "2025-12-22T18:51:49Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > WW1 ended in 1918, but Wikipedia has the last war in Afghanistan ending in 2021: Quite (when they reimagined Sherlock Holmes as a contemporary detective show 100+ years after Conan Doyles version they had reimagine Dr Watson from a veteran of Afghanistan to a veteran of Afghanistan) and Kipling is definitely example of how influential poetry used to be. But it’s not a recent poem ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/90 "2025-12-22T19:05:06Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Almost all culturally significant (ie widely known and long remembered) poetry since about fifty years ago will be found in song or rap lyrics. Yes, but there it’s hard to separate the significance of the poetry itself from that of the melody or musical accompaniment or specific performance. I took the OP to be looking for “pure poetry,” where the words alone do all the work. And really, I can’t think of any such poem written during my own lifetime that comes near rivaling the biggies of yesteryear. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/91 "2025-12-22T19:14:06Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > ‘The Waste Land’? The _Cats_ musical was a blockbuster; I’m still working on this one. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/92 "2025-12-22T20:41:32Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > The _Cats_ musical was a blockbuster; I’m still working on this one. Yes, T S Eliot wrote quite a lot of other stuff after the Waste Land of course.. It could be argued that the Four Quartets were actually more mature and balanced overall? But I think the Waste Land was his definitive work? And of course he did quite a lot of light verse and theater later as well. Perhaps not quite as well as W H Auden who was an absolute master of rhyme and structure? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/93 "2025-12-22T21:22:22Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > The _Cats_ musical was a blockbuster; I’m still working on this one. I think that Andrew Lloyd Weber was actually a fan of Eliot’s depressing poetry, but knew that if he made a musical of those, nobody would ever see it. So he instead took the only cheerful works Eliot ever wrote, made a musical out of them even though he didn’t get them, and then tried to shoehorn in as much of the depressing stuff as he could. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/94 "2025-12-22T22:17:06Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > Perhaps not quite as well as W H Auden who was an absolute master of rhyme and structure? Speaking of which, Auden’s “September 1, 1939” had a major revival after 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/95 "2025-12-22T22:33:15Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Speaking of which, Auden’s “September 1, 1939” had a major revival after 9/11. Did it? You may well be right, but I can’t say I noticed. Where did it resurface? Both Eliot and Auden were masters of their craft in very different ways! ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/96 "2025-12-22T23:42:43Z")
My initial response was “The Road Not Taken” by Frost, but on looking it up it was 1915. For some reason I thought he read it at Kennedy’s inauguration. Which is now, what 60-ish years ago? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/97 "2025-12-22T23:49:48Z")
What counts as “culturally significant” for this thread? Can you give some examples of songs and other art forms that were culturally significant? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/98 "2025-12-22T23:58:05Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > For some reason I thought he read it at Kennedy’s inauguration. That was “The Gift Outright.” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/99 "2025-12-23T00:00:03Z")
Googling, Frost was 86 years old at the time. (I thought the story was that the glare from the sun prevented him from reading what he’d planned to but I can’t find anything to confirm that.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/100 "2025-12-23T00:02:17Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > Where did it resurface? IIRC, Scott Simon recited it on NPR not long after the attacks, and it soon thereafter (in Terry Teachout’s words) “flew around the Internet at the speed of light.” > **[The Auden Poem Auden Hated](https://www.commentary.org/articles/terry-teachout/the-auden-poem-auden-hated/)** > > Precious little of the English poetry written in the 20th century has passed into the common stock of universally recognized literary reference. No doubt this is because so many of [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919.md?page=6)