WHAAAT? A lousy response rate of 7? Geez!

Okay, then...the answer is 14%. It surprised the National Opinion Reasearch Center, that's for sure. They thought it would be much less. In fact, 94% said they had read poetry at some point in their lives.

I will give you all another chance. What was the poem that was cited most frequently? I think you'll be surprised.

I replied in your survey. I thought it would be 3%.

The Grinch?

Casey at the Bat?

"Twas the night before Christmas"

Mary had a Little Lamb?

Twinkle, twinkle, little star?

Hmmm, I see there were some votes after I posted the answer.

That's what my question should have been! I was surprised. It was "The Raven." Also cited were:
~ "Footprints"
~ "Trees"
~ "Casey at the Bat"
~ Ode to a Grecian Urn"
~ "Humpty Dumpty" (???)
~ "I hear America Singing"

Only 24% of the current and former poetry users, however, could accurately recall lines of poetry. Can you? My husband is amazing at that, but I am not so good.

I admit I voted after you posted the results. Problem was, I neglected to scroll down before I did it.

Can't help but wonder if The Raven became more familiar to the populace when The Simpsons used it for a Halloween episode.

Is that 14% of the public who read? I've seen stats that say the average number of books per person read by those in the US is 2 books per annum.

Good point, Zmj. Here is a link to the report. There is a further link that should have more detail.

However, the article I read said, "Those eligible had to read books, newspapers, magazines or other print works for pleasure, that is, not for school or work." I'd like to think that people at least read "newspapers or other print works."

For Americans: Another article today about National Poetry month said that 2 Presidents had poetry read at their inaugurations. Who were they?

I know one was Bill Clinton, who had Maya Angelou give a reading at his inauguration.

Robert Frost

... also ... should "Ode to a Grecian Urn" be "Ode ON a Grecian Urn" ?

BTW how much does a Grecian earn?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jerry thomas, April 15, 2006 18:20

Thanks, Jerry, for correcting me on that. I had quoted it from the article, which says "TO." Jerry, aren't you happy about "The Raven?" Or did you just think it a foregone conclusion?

Yes, Saranita, you are right about Bill Clinton. The other was President Kennedy (2 rather similar presidents in many ways, I think), who cited, as Jerry posted, Frost's, "The Gift Outright as his 1961 inaugural ceremony.

Sometimes I wonder what people mean by "poetry".

Most people today enjoy poetry through song lyrics, and based on the popularity of iPods, can't get enough of it. We all likely listen to poetry daily.

Come to think of it, just a block away, I heard some teenagers loudly reciting lyric poetry as they got out of their car - from memory! Believe it or not, they actually knew the lyrics by heart.

I would have thought the percentages would be higher, too, judging from the popularity of the poetry section in my own library. We have a lot of folks who don't normally read much who enjoy poetry . . . including lyrics, as Frank points out.

I'm not familiar with rap music, but from the little I know it seems that it is poetry with often complex rhyme-schemes.

Rhyme-scheme is a bit generous. A lot of rap is based on freestyle rapping, which is making up the rhymes on the spot. As such, some of the rhymes are quite a stretch, and often, don't really work, like Eminem rhyming "shady" and "imitatin'".

I would say that rap is poetry because of the presence of meter. The repetitive sound through the mixture of consonance and assonance just reinforces it as poetry. However, the only rap that I'm familiar with is "I Like Big Butts" and the stuff in Scary Movie 3.

The poetry I heard down the block was from about four teenage girls who continued singing the lyrics of the song that was blasting from their car after they stopped to go into the White Hen. I didn't actually know the song, but it was clear that they did. It wasn't rap, but it was still poetry.

And, of course, there was all that lyric poetry from my own car radio on the drive home.