Critically acclaimed poet Eric Greinke presents his visionary theory of Anthropoetics – an approach to poetry that is oriented to our entire species. The book is a hybrid of prose lavishly illustrated by poems that predicts and promotes a worldwide paradigmic shift in both aesthetics and human cooperation. Includes a fifty page “little anthology” of “We” poems by thirty contemporary poets in the center of the book, abridged from Greinke’s 2024 anthology Speaking For Everyone. Topics range widely from Whitmans vision of the future to ethnopoetics, creativity, archetypes, symbolism, surrealism, inspiration, imagination, intuition, imagery, collaboration and divergent thinking. Greinke draws on his experience as a psychotherapist, poet and literary editor to delve into attitudinal and psychological aspects of poetry and how they relate to both human and personal progress. He describes how globalization and the internet have made Anthropoetics inevitable as part of a progressive worldwide shift to an anthropocentric orientation with an artistic focus on universality. The book concludes with The Universal Poet – tracing a line of anthropoetically oriented poets from Walt Whitman through Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Maya Angelou and on to young poets like Amanda Gorman. The implication of Anthropoetics - Poetry & Human Progress goes far beyond poetry and the Arts, into human nature and survival itself. Every page is thought-provoking and inspiring, for both poets and general readers alike. Greinke uses poetry as a metaphor for human nature in this profound, transformative “instant classic.” A highly compressed little book packed with literary/social criticism and a prophetic vision of the future.
