Why is modern poetry difficult? Talk by Professor Geoff Ward

In this talk, Geoff Ward tries to get to the source of the discomfort that many readers experience in their encounters with modern poetry. He asks whether schools are to blame for instilling a fear of poetry, or whether poetry itself has taken any wrong turnings following the innovations of T S Eliot, the Surrealists, and others. In this critical but also autobiographical account, he takes us on a journey at whose end the difficulty of poetry is shown to be not so much a mountain to climb, as a pleasure to be enjoyed. Professor Geoffrey Ward PhD FRSA has been Principal of Homerton College, University of Cambridge since 2013, prior to which he worked as Vice Principal and Professor of English and Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. His critical books include Statutes of Liberty: The New York School of Poets (1993, 2002) and he has published several collections of his own poetry, most recently Worry Dream (2013). He writes and presents occasional broadcasts on American writers for BBC Radio 3, and is a member of the editorial board of The Cambridge Quarterly.