Fear Less
Poetry in Perilous Times
WW Norton · Print & ebook · November 18, 2025
A Pulitzer Prize–winning poet reveals how poetry is a powerful tool of connection and understanding in a fractured world.
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- Poetry becomes a way to meet uncertainty, loss, and one another with closer attention.
- Themes
- Poetry as connection, Meaning amid uncertainty and loss, Creative process and poetic craft
- Pacing
- Reflective
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.
Ocean of CloudsGarrett Hongo56% match
Little MercyRobin Walter56% match
The AskingJane Hirshfield59% match
Wade in the WaterTracy K. Smith72% matchShares Political & Protest Poetry
Life on MarsTracy K. Smith65% match
3 SectionsVijay Seshadri65% match
West WindMary Oliver65% match
How to Read a PoemEdward Hirsch63% matchShares Poetry Writing and Poetry Criticism
For younger readers: Bronx Masquerade, Voices in the Air, SHOUT
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
A Pulitzer Prize–winning poet reveals how poetry is a powerful tool of connection and understanding in a fractured world. Drawing on deep passion and personal experience, former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith demystifies the art form that has too often been mischaracterized as “inaccessible,” “irrelevant,” or “intimidating.” She argues that poetry is rooted in fundamentally human qualities innate to our capacities to love, dream, question, and cultivate community.
Continue reading
Lifting the veil on her own creative process, Smith shows us how reading and writing poetry allows us to better confront life’s many uncertainties and losses, build camaraderie with strangers, and understand ourselves more fully. In six insightful chapters, she grounds readers in the technical elements of the craft and provides close readings of the works of contemporary poets such as Joy Harjo, Danez Smith, and Francisco Márquez, alongside classic poems by Dickinson, Keats, Millay, and others. By reimaging and reexamining the age-old art form, Fear Less is a warm invitation to find meaning, consolation, and hope through poetry for poetry fans and newcomers to the art form.
Poetry, Within Reach
Poetry becomes a way to meet uncertainty, loss, and one another with closer attention.
Come here for
- A welcoming case for poetry’s human uses
- A glimpse of Smith’s creative process
Expect
- Six chapters on poetic craft and close reading
- Classic and contemporary poems considered side by side
Where it sits
| Poetry Criticism | 63% |
|---|---|
| Poetry Writing | 56% |
| Political & Protest Poetry | 42% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Creative Writing
- Poetry Writing
- Poetry Criticism
- Authors
- Tracy K Smith
- Publisher
- WW Norton
- Published
- November 18, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Poetry as connection · Meaning amid uncertainty and loss · Creative process and poetic craft
- Reading lane
- Creative Writing