I would like to hear how readers (or writers, but especially readers) have been influenced or affected by criticism. I have had several experiences where a good bit of critical discussion opened up poetry that I had earlier found unremarkable or impenetrable, or it brought to my attention poetry that I would otherwise have missed. It doesn't happen often, but it seems to me one of the highest achievements possible for a critic and the desire to do it guides much of my own criticism. Richard Poirier's "Poetry and Pragmatism" showed me how a poem finds its way line by line, and this long after I had published a great deal of my own poetry and criticism. So here's my question:
What works of criticism influenced you positively as a writer or reader, and why?
Richard
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