Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

The literary critic and the common reader are often at odds in their preferences, and the question of literary quality perennially nags at poets, critics, and readers. Poet W. S. Merwin quoted his own teacher in “Berryman,” concluding “if you have to be sure, don’t write” (“Berryman,” Line 40). Merwin and Berryman describe academic writing, but popular works define themselves in numbers, a much simpler way to determine effect.

“Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep” appeared in The Gypsy, a Midwestern, Depression-era magazine dedicated to popular, mostly sentimental verse. While modernist poets like William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens marked a departure from poetry’s appeal to emotion and revolutionized American poetry, sentimental verse continued to console and uplift American readers. Newspapers printed inspirational and dramatic poems; anthologies with titles like “Best Loved” poems or “Treasuries” of verse spoke to popular appeal rather than academic standards. Designed to excite emotions rather than intellect, the melodramatic work of sentimental poets, especially female poets, holds more value for its readers than it does with critics.

Academic courses in poetry rarely include poetry books with traditionally high sales, like Desiderata or the works of Khalil Gibran. Seminars may one day address such popular poets as Shel Silverstein and Rupi Kaur, but their cultural stature derives from the millions of readers who have enjoyed their work, not from critical acclaim.