Dana Gioia

Business Executive and Poetry Critic

Dana Gioia is an internationally known critic, and his essay “Can Poetry Matter?” appeared in the May 1991 issue of The Atlantic Monthly. This essay has been widely discussed since its first publication, and Gioia included it in his book of that title.

For fifteen years, Gioia supported his writing habit as well as his family by excelling as a businessman; he served as an executive at General Foods and became a Vice President. During that period, he worked on his writing nights and weekends, thus establishing a major literary career, allowing him to leave the business world to devote himself full-time to writing.

Man of Music and Education

In addition to poetry and criticism, Gioia has also composed music. Music was actually his first love in the arts, and he studied to become a composer. He served a classical music critic for San Francisco magazine. His own poems have been set to music by others.

Gioia helped found the West Chester University summer conference on Form and Narrative in 1995, and now that conference is the largest poetry writing conference in the United States. He also founded Teaching Poetry in 2001, a Santa Rosa, California conference aimed at improving the teaching of poetry at the secondary level. He has taught at a number colleges and universities, including Johns Hopkins, Sarah Lawrence, and Wesleyan.

But Can He Write Poetry?

Dana Gioia’s writing credentials are obviously impressive, but can he write poetry? Does his poetry stand up to scrutiny or is it, perhaps, a litany of post-modern rubbish, a screed of shock therapy, or does it fold into nothingness when compared to the greats?

For a thorough analysis of Gioia’s poem, “Words,” please see my article, “Dana Gioia’s ‘Words’.”