Writing Problems: What is "Poetry Voice?"

Whitman, Yeats, Ryan, Spahr, Trethewey, Glück, Bidart, Baraka, Plath, Strand, Lorde, Armantrout

What is Poetry Voice, or what I call “Lavender Voice?” Recently on Facebook, I posted a quotation from Thomas Lux on the anniversary of his death (Lux died February 5, 2014):

There are a lot of dull readings, and when I hear a really bad reading, I feel bad, particularly for the new people in the audience, because if they think this is what poetry is— incomprehensible, a monotone read into the page—they’re never going to come to another fucking poetry reading again. It will just reinforce all of their stereotypes about poetry—that it doesn’t make any sense, that it doesn’t speak to regular people.

Lux’s statement got a lot of commentary and reaction. We’re all familiar with Poetry Voice, when people read poems aloud with a sort of flat monotone that tends to rise at the end of lines. It’s almost universally derided, but few people know what it is, or what it’s for.

Poetry Voice is an unfortunate weakness or detriment in poets’ attempts to bring their poems to audiences, not all of whom care a whit about poetry. This issue is not controversial, so much as misunderstood. Poetry Voice is denigrated, and made fun of, but it’s not easily defined or even a signature of inexperience or lack of mastery of poetry.

Lavender in its natural habitat not speaking in a voice

Despite how common they are, poetry readings can often be dull and difficult to sit through. If you’ve attended a poetry reading, you’ve probably heard this voice—a flat, emotionless, slow, monotone that rises slightly at the end. Some people like to read their poems in this voice, and others seem to like hearing it. This voice goes for a monotonous incantation. It suggests an understated sincerity. It says: These poems are important.