Still, overall, more people are reading poetry now than before. In the US, 28 million adults read poetry in 2017, the NEA found, the highest readership ever recorded since 2002.

For the 20th annual Poetry Out Loud finals this week (May 5-7), 55 students, one champion from every state and American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin ...