Moderator speaketh: Subterraneous: Is that supposed to be funny? It’s not, and it’s dangerously close to trolling. Do yourself and us a favor and put a lid on it.
I don’t know that poetry is necessarily going through anything it hasn’t gone through before.
It seems like to me the 19th century was definitely the high water mark for poetry, as pure poets seemed to be quite popular in their own right.
But if you look back at early centuries it seems that most poets made their bread and butter as playwrights (which was a much more profitable venture.)
Shakespeare and Jonson both have some famous poems out there but primarily paid the bills writing plays. Or in the 19th century as authors of novels or short stories.
And some of the more famous 19th century poets weren’t as widely respected then as they are now.
In the 19th century how many poets can we say were true “superstars” people who transcended time and are going to be famous for the ages, not just to the literary elites but to everyone? You can count it on one hand.
In the 20th century there were lots of poets, but just like in past centuries the number that I think will transcend their lifetimes can be counted on one hand (Frost, Angelou, Eliot.)
I wish you would elaborate on this. What do you consider “poetry” and what is it about most song lyrics that disqualifies them?