What makes a poem great?
DAVID LEHMAN: What makes a poem great is its eloquence; its passion; its thought; its generosity of spirit; its shapeliness; its form, whether it has one; the artistry with which it may reveal some things and conceal other things. But as with so many other things in life, it’s a great deal easier to recognize a great poem than it is to explain greatness or what makes a poem great. JEFFREY BROWN: You mean you can enjoy it before you understand it or before you understand why? DAVID LEHMAN: Yes, exactly. In fact, “The Snow Man” is this fantastic poem of Wallace Stevens, and you can interpret it endlessly. It’s a great sort of brainteaser, but it also has a magnificent music. “One must have a mind of winter to regard the frost and the boughs of the pine trees crusted with snow and have been cold a long time to behold the junipers shagged with ice, the spruces rough in the distant glitter of the January sun, and not to think of any misery in the sound of the wind in the sound of a few leav
