| User | Juliets_dagger |
| Topic | just a thought... |
| Message | I was thinking, after recieving some feedback on a piece of mine. It seems to be a common misconception that all writing should be extremely ethereal and powerful, evoking extremities of emotion.
But this is not always the case. Some writing is mearly meant to bring forth laughter or dig out old memories. Not all poetry has to be profound. As a writer, one doesn’t always have to have something awe inspiring to say. One just has to have something that they feel needs to be said. And I must also say, that not one piece of poetry that has ever been written has been completely devoid of emotion. All poetry has emotion in it. Whether it’s the emotion the writer felt as they wrote each word or whether the piece is finely laced in abundance with emotion. It’s important to remember that. Especially when critiquing another’s work. It may not be important to you, but it IS important to the person who wrote it. Critique the work of others as you would like to be critiqued. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Love to all. |
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| User | ANGELO | 2005-01-15 | |
| Subject | untitled |
| Message | i have to admit. during my first month in this site... i gave these comments wherein i tell people how they should have written their pieces. and, of course, those instructions were based on my standards... i was wrong.
- i think... everyone is entitled to their own opinion. whether they bash your work or praise it... it’s up to them. what’s up to you is the choice on whether you would listen or not. truthfully, people can talk all they want... you can take their advice if you see wisdom in it, you can let their thoughts influence your view regarding your piece or you can choose to linger on the later forms of its existence. but you cannot forget that the true validation on whether your work is good or not resides in you. poetry is (as the other’s have mentioned) a release... a free outlet in which a writer expresses him/herself. ergo the real judgement of the beauty and, more importantly, the potency of your pieces... should come from the you. =) |
| User | Sandburg | 2005-01-11 | |
| Subject | untitled |
| Message | I understand and agree with you. It would be like using The Sound of Music as a standard against which all movies must be judged. (Or any single movie) It wouldn’t work. There are different genres within each genre of any art.
That said I would be wary of telling members how to critique you. Remember that you are always free to ignore any advice. But if you start to send vibes out to the nay sayers you may soon only get comments from your fans. I wouldn’t trust the congratulations I receive from anyone who NEVER tells me anything I do is bad. The occasional negative remark, even when it is off base, is assurance that any positive remarks are genuine, I hope! Good luck with everything you write. Dave |
| User | joeyalphabet | 2005-01-11 | |
| Subject | untitled |
| Message | i judge poetry on what it’s supposed to do, the same way i judge a movie. i’m not going to hold ’spiderman 2’ or ’shark tale’ to the same standard i hold ’eternal sunshine’ or ’big fish’. judge whatever it is by its merits. it’s the same with poetry. some is obviously just venting. some is meant to be humorous. some is dark and deep. the standard has to be set by the type of poem. |
| User | mae | 2005-01-10 | |
| Subject | untitled |
| Message | I’ve found, on several occasions, that the poems I cared for the least are the ones that affected my readers the most. If you can find the words to say what you feel, no matter what it is or how deep it is, then your readers will get something from it, even if it’s something different than you felt. It’s when I’m reading a piece and WANT to get something from it, either because I’ve been through what they’re writing about or because the subject is especially worthy, but I don’t that I’ll mention the lack of emotion. I’ve read some poems where it’s like reading a list, but the subject is beautiful, so I’ll say something to the writer about the lack of emotion. And I do agree with you that not all writing must be profound. Goodness, wouldn’t we be a stuffy lot if that were the case. But your subject must mean something to you or you wouldn’t be writing about it. The trick is to get that passion across to your readers at some level. I’ve tried to say it in a helpful way (I have been more or less successful at that), and I strive to mention something that I also like about the piece. I’ve received comments myself about a lack of emotion that have not been worded particularly kindly. That wasn’t helpful. mae |
| User | Juliets_dagger | 2005-01-09 | |
| Subject | untitled |
| Message | Exactly. You completely understoof my point magnicat. For writers, writing is special. It’s release. It’s more important for a writer to say what they feel needs to be said. The profound thought often comes unexpected as a writer is doing just that. Thanks dear. |
| User | magnicat | 2005-01-09 | |
| Subject | untitled |
| Message | yeah, it makes sense. if i can write something that is profound, that is a gift indeed. it does not always happen, if rarely. like you say, sometimes it’s just a release for us to write something. sometimes it’s just a funny thought. we can strive for the profound, but it doesn’t have to be the be all and end all of our poetry. i just strive to get better and take comments and suggestions, sometimes with a grain of salt.
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