If you love writing books, short stories, poems, or other forms of literature, April is the month for you. Starting in 1996, during April, schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets would come together to celebrate poetry and its importance throughout American history.
This yearly celebration was introduced by the Academy of American Poets and holds true every April. This month engages different organizations, including the Poetry Foundation and the National Council of Teachers of English, every year. These organizations, and many others, participate through readings, festivals, and book displays, alongside other events. Some memorable events include the Bach Chamber Choir performing pieces by poets in River Hills, Wisconsin, and Jeremy Irons reading T. S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets” in New York. An engaging environmental project is the Poet-Tree Project in Houston, inviting people to decorate trees with original poems in public parks. The month-long celebration, along with all its other events, includes poetry distribution in New York City and poetry writing activities at the Mall of America, which results yearly in a sales increase of up to 35% in poetry books.
To aid in spreading awareness for the month, posters, more than 40,000 of them, are passed around to individuals, schools, and libraries all over the world. The inspiration for this day came from the celebrations of Black History Month and Women’s History Month and now stands as the largest literary celebration. The reason April was chosen to celebrate poetry is because it was thought that it would “maximize participation and encourage year-round poetry readership.”
Now let’s get to the point of National Poetry Month. What are its goals? There are multiple, the first of which is to highlight the legacy and achievements of American poets. Along with this, the month seeks to encourage the education and reading of poetry; increase attention from the media in the light of literature; support poets, new and old; and promote poetry books to be published and sold. On top of all the potential publicity that can be gained during this time, “reflection and revitalization in times of sociopolitical turmoil” is offered, notes Ali Liebegott.
On the more negative side of National History Month, there are many who criticize the celebration; among them are Louisa Solano, Richard Howard, Charles Bernstein, and Rigoberto González. Many arguments arise from these few alone. Some feel that NPM (as national poetry month is often called) takes away from the value of true poetry with its public promotion. With this argument comes the proposal to bring back poetry’s original “secret” nature during this period by making it less accessible. Along with this, fierce arguments that the month dilutes art’s true value by mixing corporate sponsors and independent literary culture float over many critics’ heads.
Under an umbrella, these criticisms voice the wish for poetry to lose the commercialization that it’s gained more of each year through this month, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that’s such a bad idea.
