I thought I’d run out of things to write about this week. (I’m moving after all, and putting all my books in boxes makes me sad and unable to function properly in society.) So I googled “Poetry in America” in a half-ass, smart-ass attempt to come up with something to blog about, and low and behold, what did I find but the Poetry Foundation‘s 113-page report called, what else, “Poetry in America: Review of the Findings.” And it’s fascinating. Here’s a look at what the study did:

Poetry in America is the first national, in-depth survey of people’s attitudes toward and experiences with poetry. The survey was conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago on behalf of The Poetry Foundation. The survey investigated people’s leisure time pursuits and general reading habits, their early and more recent experiences with poetry, their perceptions of poets and poetry readers, their favorite poems, and their experiences with coming across poetry in unexpected places. The survey sample includes more than 1,000 adult readers with varying levels of interest in poetry. Respondents included adults who currently read or listen to poetry, those who have read poetry in the past but no longer do so, and those who have never read poetry.

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