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Poetry as Enchantment: And Other Essays
“Gioia joins W. H. Auden, Randall Jarrell, and D. H. Lawrence in embracing criticism that is insightfully intellectual and surprisingly personal . . . Always a canny discussant of contemporary poetics, Gioia again provides vital guidance for evaluating poetry that will appeal to tenured professors and armchair aficionados alike.”
―Booklist
Dana Gioia, one of America's leading poet-critics, explains why poetry exists and why we need it in this sparkling collection of essays.
More personal than any of Gioia’s earlier works, Poetry as Enchantment reflects a lifetime of thought and experience. Gioia, the author of Can Poetry Matter?, talks about poetry in a radically different way than it is currently being taught or discussed. In the title essay, he explains that poetry is speech raised to the level of song, and though poetry may often be misunderstood as intellectual, it moves us the way music does. Poetry charms its readers, creating a heightened experience of attention. It addresses readers in the fullness of their humanity, simultaneously speaking to the mind, emotions, imagination, memory, and physical senses. Without academic jargon, Poetry as Enchantment relates literature to the questions of life.
―Booklist
Dana Gioia, one of America's leading poet-critics, explains why poetry exists and why we need it in this sparkling collection of essays.
More personal than any of Gioia’s earlier works, Poetry as Enchantment reflects a lifetime of thought and experience. Gioia, the author of Can Poetry Matter?, talks about poetry in a radically different way than it is currently being taught or discussed. In the title essay, he explains that poetry is speech raised to the level of song, and though poetry may often be misunderstood as intellectual, it moves us the way music does. Poetry charms its readers, creating a heightened experience of attention. It addresses readers in the fullness of their humanity, simultaneously speaking to the mind, emotions, imagination, memory, and physical senses. Without academic jargon, Poetry as Enchantment relates literature to the questions of life.
- GenresPoetryNonfictionEssays
272 pages, Paperback
Published November 12, 2024
21 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Dana Gioia
172 books118 followersDana Gioia is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet. Former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Gioia is a native Californian of Italian and Mexican descent. He received a B.A. and a M.B.A. from Stanford University and an M.A. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University. (Gioia is pronounced JOY-uh.)
Gioia has published four full-length collections of poetry, as well as eight chapbooks. His poetry collection, Interrogations at Noon, won the 2002 American Book Award. An influential critic as well, Gioia's 1991 volume Can Poetry Matter?, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award, is credited with helping to revive the role of poetry in American public culture.
Gioia's reviews have appeared in many magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Book World, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, and The Hudson Review. Gioia has written two opera libretti and is an active translator of poetry from Latin, Italian, and German.
As Chairman of the NEA, Gioia succeeded in garnering enthusiastic bi-partisan support in the United States Congress for the mission of the Arts Endowment, as well as in strengthening the national consensus in favor of public funding for the arts and arts education. (Business Week Magazine referred to him as "The Man Who Saved the NEA.")
Gioia's creation of a series of NEA National Initiatives combined with a wider distribution of direct grants to reach previously underserved communities making the agency truly national in scope. Through programs such as Shakespeare in American Communities, Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, NEA Jazz Masters, American Masterpieces, and Poetry Out Loud, the Arts Endowment has successfully reached millions of Americans in all corners of the country.
The Big Read became the largest literary program in the history of the federal government. By the end of 2008, 400 communities had held month-long celebrations of great literature. Because of these successes as well as the continued artistic excellence of the NEA's core grant programs, the Arts Endowment, under Chairman Gioia, reestablished itself as a preeminent federal agency and a leader in the arts and arts education.
Renominated in November 2006 for a second term and once again unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Dana Gioia is the ninth Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Gioia left his position as Chairman on January 22, 2009. In 2011 Gioia became the Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at the University of Southern California where he teaches each fall semester.
Gioia has been the recipient of ten honorary degrees. He has won numerous awards, including the 2010 Laetare Medal from Notre Dame. He and his wife, Mary, have two sons. He divides his time between Los Angeles and Sonoma County, California
Gioia has published four full-length collections of poetry, as well as eight chapbooks. His poetry collection, Interrogations at Noon, won the 2002 American Book Award. An influential critic as well, Gioia's 1991 volume Can Poetry Matter?, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award, is credited with helping to revive the role of poetry in American public culture.
Gioia's reviews have appeared in many magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Book World, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, and The Hudson Review. Gioia has written two opera libretti and is an active translator of poetry from Latin, Italian, and German.
As Chairman of the NEA, Gioia succeeded in garnering enthusiastic bi-partisan support in the United States Congress for the mission of the Arts Endowment, as well as in strengthening the national consensus in favor of public funding for the arts and arts education. (Business Week Magazine referred to him as "The Man Who Saved the NEA.")
Gioia's creation of a series of NEA National Initiatives combined with a wider distribution of direct grants to reach previously underserved communities making the agency truly national in scope. Through programs such as Shakespeare in American Communities, Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, NEA Jazz Masters, American Masterpieces, and Poetry Out Loud, the Arts Endowment has successfully reached millions of Americans in all corners of the country.
The Big Read became the largest literary program in the history of the federal government. By the end of 2008, 400 communities had held month-long celebrations of great literature. Because of these successes as well as the continued artistic excellence of the NEA's core grant programs, the Arts Endowment, under Chairman Gioia, reestablished itself as a preeminent federal agency and a leader in the arts and arts education.
Renominated in November 2006 for a second term and once again unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Dana Gioia is the ninth Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Gioia left his position as Chairman on January 22, 2009. In 2011 Gioia became the Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at the University of Southern California where he teaches each fall semester.
Gioia has been the recipient of ten honorary degrees. He has won numerous awards, including the 2010 Laetare Medal from Notre Dame. He and his wife, Mary, have two sons. He divides his time between Los Angeles and Sonoma County, California
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 27, 2025
I know I should like and appreciate poetry. But I never hear anyone quoting, let alone reading it. “You should read poetry” has the same ring as “You should it your vegetables.” It sounds good and would make me healthier, but maybe I’m just a “meat and potatoes” guy when it comes to books. Stories please from history or fantasy, I’ll pass on the poetry.
Well, no longer. I want to start to understand poetry, and maybe I’ll even start to like it. One nudge in the right direction came from Dana Gioia’s book, “Poetry as Enchantment”. This book, as a collection of essays and reviews, felt like I was setting down with someone who not only understands the importance of poetry, but actually likes it. Gioia confronts the problem I’ve had for so long: Poetry is just for the elite, for the intelligent. Poems are opaque to ward off the faint of heart, the uninitiated.
“Not so”, I heard Gioia say. Poems have been around since the beginning of civilization. They weren’t meant primarily to be analyzed, but to be experienced. The musical arrangement of words spoken to others was to delight and inspire. “The power of poetry”, writes Gioia, “is to affect the emotions, touch the memory, and incite the imagination with unusual force.” As I kept reading the other essays, reviewing poems and poet’s work, I started to feel this “unusual force”.
This book was a wonderful invitation to work toward that delight, that enchantment. Moving forward, I will always read a poem first to experience it before trying to analyze. I think Gioia would approve. “In poetry, intellectuality without physicality becomes dull and barren, just as intuition untethered by intellect quickly becomes sloppy and subjective. We need to augment methodology with magic.”
Well, no longer. I want to start to understand poetry, and maybe I’ll even start to like it. One nudge in the right direction came from Dana Gioia’s book, “Poetry as Enchantment”. This book, as a collection of essays and reviews, felt like I was setting down with someone who not only understands the importance of poetry, but actually likes it. Gioia confronts the problem I’ve had for so long: Poetry is just for the elite, for the intelligent. Poems are opaque to ward off the faint of heart, the uninitiated.
“Not so”, I heard Gioia say. Poems have been around since the beginning of civilization. They weren’t meant primarily to be analyzed, but to be experienced. The musical arrangement of words spoken to others was to delight and inspire. “The power of poetry”, writes Gioia, “is to affect the emotions, touch the memory, and incite the imagination with unusual force.” As I kept reading the other essays, reviewing poems and poet’s work, I started to feel this “unusual force”.
This book was a wonderful invitation to work toward that delight, that enchantment. Moving forward, I will always read a poem first to experience it before trying to analyze. I think Gioia would approve. “In poetry, intellectuality without physicality becomes dull and barren, just as intuition untethered by intellect quickly becomes sloppy and subjective. We need to augment methodology with magic.”
October 3, 2025
Dana Gioia writes engagingly enough, but I probably wouldn't have gotten through this whole collection if I hadn't agreed to write a review about it for a literary journal (which I now need to write, and will update here once it's done...). I'm glad I had the incentive to overcome the piecemeal, non-dopamine-y nature of the collection, because on the whole it provided a really interesting window onto 20th century poetic literary history and brought home to me how incomplete my poetic self-education has been (compared to Gioia's). Gioia also has some nice ideas about the importance of many alternative "ways in" to poetry and the falseness of the dichotomy between highbrow and popular culture, both of which he seems very comfortable with (as much as a briskly jolly septegenarian who went to Stanford Business School to fund his poetry career--and later led the National Endowment for the Arts--can be).
January 4, 2025
The best thing about Gioia’s essays are how many other great books he turns you on to. His enthusiasms are infectious. I bought like five books on Amazon while I was reading this. Also, he’s brilliant on poetry, in addition to being an amazing poet himself. Some guys have all the luck.
December 23, 2024
Loved the title essay in the book.
August 11, 2025
Dana Gioia is a brilliant mind and talented literary critic. His essays carry a delicate balance: they are clever and witty while staying engaging and thoughtful.
I would start essays a bit skeptical of if I would enjoy the topic. By the end of almost every essay, I was adding books to my ‘want to read’ list because Gioia’s excitement for the writers he reviews is contagious. His research is thorough and seldom overextends.
There were some sections in this book that were a bit dense. Between Gioia’s embellished (maybe slightly dated) language and lengthy descriptions of related authors or critical material, he tests your resolve to digest the topics he examines.
Ultimately a great read, especially for anyone wanting to explore 20th century literary criticism or uncover some lesser-known authors.
I would start essays a bit skeptical of if I would enjoy the topic. By the end of almost every essay, I was adding books to my ‘want to read’ list because Gioia’s excitement for the writers he reviews is contagious. His research is thorough and seldom overextends.
There were some sections in this book that were a bit dense. Between Gioia’s embellished (maybe slightly dated) language and lengthy descriptions of related authors or critical material, he tests your resolve to digest the topics he examines.
Ultimately a great read, especially for anyone wanting to explore 20th century literary criticism or uncover some lesser-known authors.
April 25, 2025
These essays exposed me to the work of poets I was not familiar with (Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, Samuel Menashe) and showed me the work of others I knew of (Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Frost) in a different light.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews