February 15, 2026
Verse vs. Universe
Language a Wood for Thought: Susan Howe's Work
From “poetry is too hard” to cult obsession: Susan Howe stirs hearts
TLDR: An essay recounts how a Susan Howe reading transformed a skeptical student into a devoted fan, arguing Howe isn’t “too hard.” The comments split between love for her tradition-rich style and gripes about academic gatekeeping, with memes about fashion, reading order, and the politest comment ever.
A shy bio major from Argentina walks into a Susan Howe reading and walks out a convert—and the comments lit up in that classic internet split between eye-rolls and heart-eyes. Fans swooned over Howe as “poetry made flesh,” while skeptics dusted off the eternal “too abstruse, too academic” complaint. The author’s book-signing faux pas—asking Howe where to start—became a meme: “Chronological or chaos?” One camp cheered the humble stumble, calling it relatable; another mocked it as peak lit-nerd cringe. The line about humanists dressing better than scientists? Instant meme fuel, with STEM folks firing back with lab-coat runway pics. Meanwhile, the essay’s defense of Howe as a lover of tradition sparked deep threads about accessibility vs. gatekeeping, and whether poetry should be private or public. References to Susan Howe, Emily Dickinson, and Anne Hutchinson kicked off feminist side-quests: some argued Howe spotlights silenced women; others called it academic cosplay. And the quiet killer? A lone top comment—“Thanks for sharing”—that people turned into the most polite dunk ever, spinning it into a thousand subtext jokes. The vibe: sincere devotion meets snarky skepticism, with memes in the margins.
Key Points
- •The author attended Susan Howe’s college reading in February 2018, their first public reading experience.
- •After the event, the author bought My Emily Dickinson (1985); Howe noted it is an essay and advised reading her poetry chronologically.
- •The author subsequently purchased Frame Structures (1996) and The Europe of Trusts: Selected Poems (1990) and read them within a month.
- •The essay contrasts perceptions of Howe’s difficulty with a portrayal of her work engaging and reshaping the American poetic tradition.
- •Howe’s writing is linked to the Antinomian Controversy of the 1630s Massachusetts Bay Colony, involving John Cotton and Anne Hutchinson, with emphasis on gendered silencing.