Poetry critiques on Gaia.

[The Man who was Thursday]

I tend to go to a variety of "rate my poem" threads and such, and 99% of them are trash. Yet nearly every reply they get is "That's really good" or "I like it" or something in that vein.

Don't people have any sense anymore?

It's even worse for those people who show a bit of promise because they focus on the positive feedback and ignore the negative (i.e. me, and maybe a few other people). They'll never improve, then. They'll go on thinking their incredibly sub-par writing is good, and never bother to figure out why it sucks.  

[LunaticBelle]

Ezra Pound

I tend to go to a variety of "rate my poem" threads and such, and 99% of them are trash. Yet nearly every reply they get is "That's really good" or "I like it" or something in that vein.

Don't people have any sense anymore?

It's even worse for those people who show a bit of promise because they focus on the positive feedback and ignore the negative (i.e. me, and maybe a few other people). They'll never improve, then. They'll go on thinking their incredibly sub-par writing is good, and never bother to figure out why it sucks.

That's because a lot of people just want to get the gold for posting and others don't want to seem mean. I'm with you though. I always try to be honest.  

[The Man who was Thursday]

LunaticBelle

Ezra Pound

I tend to go to a variety of "rate my poem" threads and such, and 99% of them are trash. Yet nearly every reply they get is "That's really good" or "I like it" or something in that vein.

Don't people have any sense anymore?

It's even worse for those people who show a bit of promise because they focus on the positive feedback and ignore the negative (i.e. me, and maybe a few other people). They'll never improve, then. They'll go on thinking their incredibly sub-par writing is good, and never bother to figure out why it sucks.

That's because a lot of people just want to get the gold for posting and others don't want to seem mean. I'm with you though. I always try to be honest.

It's like avatar rating. The general consensus is "7". They don't want to hurt the person's feelings, nor do they want to say it's the best thing they've ever seen. 7 seems to be a good middle ground for these people. Why not 5? Probably because of school teachings; in most places, a 50 is an F.  

[Lord_Skyy]

Be honest, yes. But don't just downright shoot them down. Even if it's bad writing, poetry is a form of expression. They are merely expressing themselves (whether for gold or not) and deserve some encouragement. I like to give constructive criticism and whether it's valid or not is for the writer to decide. Also keep in mind, some people posted can't differentiate between trash and brilliance, as they haven't seen enough poetry to judge.

Besides, how old is the general population? ...  

[1emon]

If one makes the decision not to grow, their leaves will wilt beneath the other towering trees who choose to reach for the sun. Can't force advice upon anyone.  

[rain-one]

Sorry, this is going to be a rant. I feel one coming on.

Y'see, poetry is one of those tricky things that, like most other forms of art, is subject to opinion. In this way, there are rules to follow: stanzas, language, rhythm, punctuation, form - the list goes on and on.

So what? So we learn all those things in eighth grade English class. Well, we learn math too, and many of us still remain terrible at it. How does it differ, then? The main point of distinction is that poetry is an expression of the soul or heart. While one can definitely solve mathematical equations without any emotional response, it is rare to find poetry written in this way.

So if one is to view the poetry posted on Gaia or any other forum as such - as a person saying "Here's a small piece of me; what do you think?" - perhaps one might word their responses a little differently.

And here is where you come in:

Ezra Pound

It's even worse for those people who show a bit of promise because they focus on the positive feedback and ignore the negative (i.e. me, and maybe a few other people). They'll never improve, then. They'll go on thinking their incredibly sub-par writing is good, and never bother to figure out why it sucks.

The problem with that, my friend, is that I have rarely come across a critique of yours that involved any constructive criticism. Please tell me, at what point in this noble crusade to improve the skills of aspiring writers do you actually offer them anything of value? It is not enough just to tell people they suck; my feeling is that you have a duty to actually aid them in improving in some way, or else just keep your comments to yourself. Tell them what they can work on.

Come on, people. I started writing when I was thirteen too, and my poetry varied from really quite good to awful. Luckily, the critique I received was helpful and honest, and I (like to think that I) have improved because of that.  

[Frankendoll.]

I prefer it when people tell me what's wrong with the stuff I write, so I can either fix it or work on it in my next piece. Personal opinion.

But noone wants to be seen as the bad guy on here, if you say something 'mean' (although by posting a poem for hundreds to read you're really asking for opinions from both ends of the spectrum) then who's to say people wont lable you a b***h? Or just generally a disliked character.

And besides, most people only choose to read the poems with interesting titles. For example, I've posted two poems, 'Monotone' and 'Ghosts'. Though 'Monotone' got more attention because of it's title being more unusual, I know of only one person that's read 'Ghosts' and I assume that was only because at the time it was at the top of the list, now it's near the middle with an uninteresting title noone reads it.  

[The Man who was Thursday]

rain-one

Sorry, this is going to be a rant. I feel one coming on.

Y'see, poetry is one of those tricky things that, like most other forms of art, is subject to opinion. In this way, there are rules to follow: stanzas, language, rhythm, punctuation, form - the list goes on and on.

So what? So we learn all those things in eighth grade English class. Well, we learn math too, and many of us still remain terrible at it. How does it differ, then? The main point of distinction is that poetry is an expression of the soul or heart. While one can definitely solve mathematical equations without any emotional response, it is rare to find poetry written in this way.

So if one is to view the poetry posted on Gaia or any other forum as such - as a person saying "Here's a small piece of me; what do you think?" - perhaps one might word their responses a little differently.

And here is where you come in:

Ezra Pound

It's even worse for those people who show a bit of promise because they focus on the positive feedback and ignore the negative (i.e. me, and maybe a few other people). They'll never improve, then. They'll go on thinking their incredibly sub-par writing is good, and never bother to figure out why it sucks.

The problem with that, my friend, is that I have rarely come across a critique of yours that involved any constructive criticism. Please tell me, at what point in this noble crusade to improve the skills of aspiring writers do you actually offer them anything of value? It is not enough just to tell people they suck; my feeling is that you have a duty to actually aid them in improving in some way, or else just keep your comments to yourself. Tell them what they can work on.

Come on, people. I started writing when I was thirteen too, and my poetry varied from really quite good to awful. Luckily, the critique I received was helpful and honest, and I (like to think that I) have improved because of that.

True; I have not exactly offered constructive criticism in any threads in here. Then again; in how many, exactly, have I actually replied? I can think of two.

I offer constructive criticism if I see any hope for the person. That way, I can say "Wow, that was pretty bad; but I did like this, and you should work to enhance/accentuate it." Unfortunately, my powers of assistance are not miraculous, and when I can see nothing to improve upon, I merely comment that I found it distasteful and move on; if they get nothing but positive comments (as I said) they will be led about with false ideas.

Don't even get me started on the nature of opinion.

Higher math is definitely an art form, much as higher literature is.

The "soul" or "heart" is simply a subsection of the brain. The heart does not feel, and the soul is another word for consciousness.

The thing is, yeah, okay, maybe they are pouring the emotion into whatever they're writing. That doesn't mean it's good.

"Here's a piece of me: my blackened, cancer-ridden lung. What do you think?"
"You should stop smoking."

:/


Also: come to think of it, I did offer constructive criticism. I told that one guy he needs to stop being unidimensional.