Most of us have been confronted with the seemingly daunting task of reading, understanding, and appreciating poetry. Dispelling some of the assumptions, Stephanie Burt offers an accessible introduction to the oldest literary genre. Proving the adaptability and relevance of verse, Burt moves seamlessly from Catullus, Frank O'Hara, Gwendolyn Brooks, A.E. Housman, Jorie Graham, and Langston Hughes to the contemporary poetry circulated on Tumblr and Twitter, and finds that threads that run through them all.