A lot of good writing and thinking about poetry has sought to define what is special or unique about poetry: ways that the language of a poem is different from other kinds of discourse. The video discussions in this section, to some extent, take a different, also useful direction: considering ways that poetry is continuous with other kinds of discourse. Terms like “pretension” and “authenticity” can apply to a conversation, a speech, a lecture, a sermon . . . and, to a poem?