Thread: Reader Response

I'm fairly good at missing points sometimes, still give a critique and end up being the one who learns, looking like a fool, but always enjoying the process, hehe. Courtesy is definitely a key word in forum communication.

With that said, I do believe this poetry section has suffered from many rather critique-less but overly courteous responses lately...

Even pearls of wisdom hurt if they are dropped from a great height.

Poetry is an art. In art there is no best or worst, only differences in opinion. Take the case of Dylan Thomas, there is debate as to whether or not he should be considered among the best of his time. In my opinion on the weight of "Do not go gentle into that good night"he should be counted among the greatest of all time.

There are people on this forum that target newbi writers with their scathingly critiques. Who among us wrote perfect poetry our first few tries? I know I didn't.

Sometimes we have to hand pearls of wisdom to the recipient if we don't want to hurt them. The more experienced writers will know to look up and catch what is dropped.

QUOTES FROM BARON:

A number of people I've seen giving critiques also try to impose their own voice upon the author.

This has happened to me recently where my poem was nearly entirely re-written by a writer of true brilliance. I'm glad he found my poem worthy of his effort and time but felt my voice had been disregared. I would have prefered "direction".

It's also up to the author to give a courteous response even to negative criticism.

That's called class. Fellow writers who should take heed to responding to other's crits graciously. As one would want for themselves.

The most fruitful comments to me are those that tell me what the poem made them feel. Which parts touched them. Which ones didn't.
Of course I want to know whether my grammar is good or bad, and if I have made any spelling mistakes. But that's not so important to me anymore, because I do spell-check my poems many times, and call me arrogant here, but it's easy for me to detect those.

But if not a single reader feels anything, I have failed. If it's just a good poem with a good theme and excellent grammar, I have failed.