Do MFA Programs Hurt Poetry?

On one of my favorite sites, bigthink.com, Edward Hirsch discusses what seems to have been asked a lot in very places lately, “Do MFA Programs Hurt Poetry?”  Interestingly his answer reflects on the number of poets and the effect on the culture as a whole.  He doesn’t interpret the question the way I would which would be something along the lines of “What do MFA programs mean for the quality of the poetry?”  I take it he wouldn’t agree with this:

The best thing that could happen to poetry is to drive it out of the universities with burning pitch forks. Starve the lavish grants. Strangle them all in a barrel of water. Cast them out. The current culture, in which poetry is written for and supported by poets has created a kind of state-sanctioned poetry that  resists innovation. When and if poetry is ever made to answer to the broader public, then we may begin to see some great poetry again – the greatness that is the collaboration between audience and artist.

Or the quote from John Barr immediately following:

[Contemporary poets] operate on a network of academic postings and prizes that reinforce the status quo.

I do think there’s a sameness to most of what you find in literary magazines.  That’s not to say that there aren’t lots of great writers with MFAs and in MFA programs, but for me–I always throw my lot in with the pitchforks.