With the question of “what does culturally significant mean” unanswered, I’d suggest some of Mary Oliver’s poetry: Wild Geese, Starlings in Winter, or I Worried.
It might be my cultural bubble, but I have seen those poems enough without personally seeking them out (or proactively reading any modern poetry by anyone) that I’m generally familiar with their central conceits.
I’d say they’re part of the fabric, maybe?
With monoculture behind us and new art/culture/commerce being hurled at us at a frenetic pace, I think almost nothing new is “culturally significant” any more, except within ever more narrowly defined sub-cultures, and even there the shelf life is short.
In that case, there’s a paradox: if “a long time after its release” is part of the qualification, then very new poems can’t qualify, and the “last,” if that’s the same thing as the “most recent,” will always be unknown.
“The Rape Joke,” for example, which I think could be, isn’t yet, having only been around since 2013. I wouldn’t call 12 years long enough to have influence, or to determine whether it has staying power.
I’d disagree, particularly in modern culture 12 years is a long time. A quick googling of the songs from 2013 I don’t think any of them are still in the popular consciousness (with the possible exception of Get Lucky by Daft Punk) of the films, I’d say only Frozen does.
But it takes more than 13 years for something to be rediscovered out of its time, and to be found to have relevance or meaning for people who weren’t the intended audience.
If a work is one that remains relevant, or one that fades quietly, but is rediscovered, and celebrated again by a new generation, finding new meaning in old wisdom, it may turn out to be a great and timeless work.
Think of all the things that got booed of the stage, or just stamped with rejection in their time. The opera Carmen; the movie It’s a Wonderful Life; Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.. Emily Dickinson only sold 4 poems in her lifetime, and Van Gogh, very few paintings.
They needed time.
There may be a poem written just yesterday that is going to need time.
I’d go with Dr. Seuss also but I’d pick The Cat in the Hat. It was a new approach to teaching kids to read and it paved the way for all his other works, which together had a huge cultural impact.
Not to derail the thread, but “well known” and “cultural influence” are not defined and thus highly subjective. That’s fine as a place to start a conversation, I’m just saying that I’m making up my own definition of those concepts to answer the question.
I’d argue the nature of modern mass media makes this much less common. The only one of those examples from the last century is It’s a Wonderful Life and that’s only there because of the vagaries of American television rights (it was rediscovered because it was repeated on TV).
I’d say being well known a few years after release counts as culturally significant in the modern fast paced cultural milieu
Obviously it’s a subjective question, it’s about poetry ffs! How much more subjective and ill defined can you get?
Though to me the key is it needs be known in the general public, not a specific subculture that is into that type of work. Not everyone needs to know all the details of the work, but if you were to allude to it people should know vaguely what you are talking about. That’s why The Revolution will Not be Televised is a good example IMO. As it’s still alluded to a lot in mass media not just among fans of radical 1960s black poetry (headlines like “X will not be Televised” or “the revolution will not be Y”)
I’ve been trying to figure out “culturally significant poetry” for a few days now, ever since this thread appeared, and I’ve been following this thread, and I still have no clue as to what “culturally significant poetry” is.
Those who got its message still use it as well. I have a book titled The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, edited by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence, talking about the N-PIC’s “quietly devastating role in managing dissent.”
Perfect encapsulations of anger will resonate as long as the cause persists.
