Comments on: Blog Critique: Poetry By Stacey

By: Daewon Blake

Daewon Blake — Mon, 25 May 2009 14:13:30 +0000

Shmoop is another site that I would recommend if you are looking or deeper insights into the elements of poetry, style, techniques and even how to read a poem. It’s something I stumbled upon some time back and for those interested in poetry, whether reading, writing or even studying it, I would urge you to have a look. It’s and it’s great for demystifying poetry with plain spoken analysis. Cool stuff.

By: janetleigh

janetleigh — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 08:34:20 +0000

Uh-oh. Get your tomatoes ready because I don’t think you’re going to like what I have to say about who is or is not a “poet”. I was always under the impression that the title “poet” was conferred upon someone much like the Queen dubs her knights. In other words, one writes until they have carpel tunnel syndrome and can’t write anymore (hyperbole), and over this same time span one’s work is noticed by others and then passed around. Then this “publishing” engine is started and one’s work is circulated. It either becomes more and more read by others or withers on the vine. It’s the buzz of other poetry readers and publishers that starts conferring the label “poet” onto the writer.

May be a distinction needs to be made somewhere in the hierarchy of “established” writers as to the level of “craft” that propels a writer into the sphere of “poet”? Otherwise we end up in a pool of mediocre writers all praising each others work and inadvertently dumbing down the whole writing process/experience? Is it okay to expect competition to weed out the best of the best so we can learn from our writing betters? How else would we judge our own growth and strength as writers?

I’m not really looking to stir up further debate over who is or isn’t a poet, but don’t I have a somewhat valid argument here?

[BTW, I'm neither a writer or a poet. I sit on my hobby horse over at my place daydreaming and spending my time in reverie.]

By: Stacey

Stacey — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:30:17 +0000

Poet, thank you for your feed back, as you will see from my comment to Carolee I think it became more of a debate of “who is a poet” and as a strong willed women I WILL stand my ground if I do not agree with something that is being said, and I think its good to speak one’s mind, which i’m sure you agree with.

By: Stacey

Stacey — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:09:22 +0000

Firstly thank you very much carolee for your comments, I really was not offended about the comments made by the gentlemen, as I have already stated its good to hear other points of view, what I felt I needed to do was stand my ground in my opinion of “who is a poet” and as you have seen from the comments we all have different views on this subject.
I have also read some of the poetry that the poet and Jim have written on there blogs, obviously we put pen to paper very differently,some people will love the poetry they write others will not which will work in the same way as mine.

By: the poet

the poet — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:02:39 +0000

Stacey, I don’t think anyone here is offended by your poetry. I’d like to thank you for engaging in dialog with us sinners. When you asked me to take a look at your blog you requested two things that I tried to provide, namely:

1) let me know your opinion on my poems (good or not so good)
2) any advice on how to prehaps get a bit more recognition etc

I believe I handled the first request there as honestly and fairly as I could. The second one took care of itself as I knew it would.

This blog now gets more than 3,000 visits per month. This post, after two days, has moved up into the top 10 most visited blog posts out of more than 150 posts and that’s not counting today’s traffic. Most blog visitors are lurkers, which means they’ll come and read but won’t comment, so you’ve got a decent number of people in two days to visit this blog and now know about your blog and poetry. I’m sure some of them will like it.

My comments aren’t a matter of style and taste. I like a wide variety of styles and I always evaluate a poem on the basis of its craftiness. I see some evidence of craft in your poems, but I did want to point out what I consider some weaknesses. If that wasn’t what you were after then I’m sorry your feelings were hurt, but I thought it would benefit my readership to see the critique. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered. Ultimately, it all boils down to what you do from there. Change it, don’t change it; it’s nobody else’s business, and it certainly isn’t mine. They’re your poems. Only you can decide what to do with them.

I wish you all the best and I hope you’ll come back and visit my humble blog again. I’ll encourage you to even leave some comments as I like the interaction. Disagreements are what make the world go round. Without conflict there’d be no reason to write. Thanks for giving me reasons.

By: carolee

carolee — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:56:46 +0000

it’s feisty over here today! the initial impulse in this exercise is correct: in offering feedback/critique, we need to know why it’s being requested. does a person want her blog/poetry critiqued b/c she wants to become a published poet or b/c she wants to know if her blog and writing work well as an expression of herself? at the beginning, it was clear that there were two sets of rules.

what i missed was when stacy got a chance to answer that question.

her answer determines how everyone here should have approached her request.

i’m sorry that stacy’s feelings have been hurt, even though i’m coming to this after the fact. i don’t know if it helps her, but it’s a job hazard of asking for feedback and i think we’ve all felt beaten down by critique before. it’s harsh sometimes, even if it’s not intended that way.

i had a very good professor and writing mentor in college who warned me early on against being married to my words. i carry that with me and when i ask for critique, i expect the worst. in receiving feedback and performing my own revisions, nothing is off limits in terms of change or deletion. some people go in expecting reassurance and then they’re devastated. it’s important to be honest with ourselves about what we’re asking of others and then prepare ourselves to receive it.

(and i’m not embarrassed to say that 95% of the time, in my experience, if i’m honest with myself, the critique ferrets out weak spots even if the language it uses doesn’t ring true in the piece.)

i’m aware that i’m rambling now.

i’m not going to go anywhere near the question about who’s a poet and who’s not. OK. I am. I can’t stand it. you’re a poet if you express yourself through poetry. period. the issues of quality or professionalism or payment are secondary.

By: Stacey

Stacey — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:05:58 +0000

Thank you very much gentlemen for your interesting comments though I feel some of them contadict-lets not start a debate about that though! I may not agree with all the comments made,(one that I do agree with is from the poet in paragraph 2 comment 11), but again like I have previously said we dont all have to agree.
Please do remember everyone has to start somewhere, I was expecting constructive critisism-hence me visiting this page, and am not offended by any of the remarks made. However I feel that prehaps I have offended others by daring to visit this site with my form of poetry, which is a shame as I would have hoped that poets like yourselves would have been more open minded and accepting to newcomers with styles varying from yours.
I have my own reasons for what I write, how I write, and why I write, and if my style offends I can not, and will not appologise for it.

By: the poet

the poet — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:03:57 +0000

Thanks Gabriel. Yes, that is an important distinction. I did not mean poets who get paid. And you are right about publication. There is something about being published by someone else that indicates that there is at least some value in a poem. It means that someone else sees the value in it and that gives a little more credibility to the person claiming a stake in the literary arena.

By: Gabriel Orgrease

Gabriel Orgrease — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:58:18 +0000

I appreciate the distinction in regard of dabbling and the pursuit of a perfected craft… I did though get the impression that when ‘professional’ is applied as a designation that to me professional means a career with pay check whereas there are very good poets who have never made any money at their pursuit of perfection of craft.

For sake of clarity, I meant no criticism of anyone in particular other than of myself. There really is a whole lot of really bad poetry that exists and poets who are known as poets who produce the bulk of it.

I don’t mind anyone starting a blog or publishing their own poetry. I did mean to indicate what it means to be published which essentially only means at root that someone else besides the creator of the piece is motivated to do something with it.

Best,
GO

By: the poet

the poet — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:10:27 +0000

Thank you all for your comments and for continuing this discussion. Thank you Gabriel for stepping in and adding your two cents. You say a lot of good things. Just want to address a couple:

1) I think making money for most of us is not the goal. There have been poets aplenty who earned a decent income doing other things. Few make it rich writing poetry. Robert Service is perhaps the best example of a poet who did make a lot of money from writing poetry. But he was also a savvy marketer and very popular. He didn’t write as an academic; he was very much a raconteur and loved to entertain, which he did, and it paid. That was much the same with Allen Ginsberg. He entertained and people liked it, though I do agree that his later poetry was nowhere near in quality as to the one poem that earned him fame.

2) As for the 2%, yes the poetry market is very small, which is why traditional publishers aren’t much interested in it. Even then, within that small circle there are little fragments and branches so that if you tried to capture the entire market you couldn’t because of the differences in people’s tastes and styles.

That said, none of this should be taken as a criticism about or toward a particular individual. This is a discussion about craft, which I think is important. In my mind, a person interested in developing their craft is a poet. A person who just wants to write poetry with no mind toward craft is just a person who writes poetry. Others might make the distinction differently.

Anyone can start a blog and publish their own poetry. That takes no real talent or skill. That’s not to say that having a blog that publishes one’s own poetry means that you have no talent or skill. It just simply means that, in and of itself, being a self-published author of poetry is no indication of one’s worth as a poet. There is a big difference between a person who studies the craft and works toward achieving a level of excellence in skill and someone who just writes because it makes them feel good. My blog is concerned with helping people who want to improve their craft with thoughtful encouragement and by providing insight into the elements of craft.