Five Common Mistakes That Novice Poets Make

[Caleb Murdock]

For a short while before I came here, I was posting on a forum in the UK. I was dismayed to see poem after poem getting nothing but praise, so I started to offer real critiques, which got more than a few people upset. Curiously, it was the poets who seemed to have the most talent who rejected all my suggestions.

A woman of 24 posted an I-love-you-madly type poem in which she said something like "nothing you say or do could make me stop loving you". The poem had good meter and rhyme, and it was clear and structured well, so I praised her for what was good. But then I commented that her feelings for her boyfriend might change if he dumped her or started dating her best friend. I then closed my critique on what I thought was a positive note by saying that with a little more life experience she would probably start writing really good poetry. Well, she got very offended by what I said, saying that her age had nothing to do with her ability, and she was writing what she "felt". The other forum members then came to her defense, piling on the usual praise. That was when I decided it was time to find another forum!

[tectak]

For a short while before I came here, I was posting on a forum in the UK. I was dismayed to see poem after poem getting nothing but praise, so I started to offer real critiques, which got more than a few people upset. Curiously, it was the poets who seemed to have the most talent who rejected all my suggestions.

A woman of 24 posted an I-love-you-madly type poem in which she said something like "nothing you say or do could make me stop loving you". The poem had good meter and rhyme, and it was clear and structured well, so I praised her for what was good. But then I commented that her feelings for her boyfriend might change if he dumped her or started dating her best friend. I then closed my critique on what I thought was a positive note by saying that with a little more life experience she would probably start writing really good poetry. Well, she got very offended by what I said, saying that her age had nothing to do with her ability, and she was writing what she "felt". The other forum members then came to her defense, piling on the usual praise. That was when I decided it was time to find another forum!

Yep, well, this is a biggy. Comment ON THE POETRY not the POET. You do not know when veracity-verse is posted so ALWAYS assume it is fiction. Treating it thus often pisses off the emos who WANT you to talk about them...gawd save us all.
Best,
tectak

[ChristopherSea]

For a short while before I came here, I was posting on a forum in the UK. I was dismayed to see poem after poem getting nothing but praise, so I started to offer real critiques, which got more than a few people upset. Curiously, it was the poets who seemed to have the most talent who rejected all my suggestions.

A woman of 24 posted an I-love-you-madly type poem in which she said something like "nothing you say or do could make me stop loving you". The poem had good meter and rhyme, and it was clear and structured well, so I praised her for what was good. But then I commented that her feelings for her boyfriend might change if he dumped her or started dating her best friend. I then closed my critique on what I thought was a positive note by saying that with a little more life experience she would probably start writing really good poetry. Well, she got very offended by what I said, saying that her age had nothing to do with her ability, and she was writing what she "felt". The other forum members then came to her defense, piling on the usual praise. That was when I decided it was time to find another forum!

Caleb, If you establish yourself as a workshop, as we do, folks accept good critique and modify their poem accordingly. If your poetry site is a vanity one, most are hesitant to accept or respond to recommendations from their peers.

By the way, there are more poetry tips on the sidebar by Collin Ward that are most useful for identifying those common mistakes and avoiding them. Welcome to the site. Cheers/Chris

[Caleb Murdock]

Caleb, If you establish yourself as workshop, as we do, folks accept good critique and modify their poem accordingly. If your poetry site is a vanity one, most are hesitant to accept or respond to recommendations from their peers.

By the way, there are more poetry tips on the sidebar by Collin Ward that are most useful for identifying those common mistakes and avoiding them. Welcome to the site. Cheers/Chris

Thanks to both of you.

No, this was not a vanity site. It was a normal forum, very similar to this one. I was there long enough to find out that it started out as a forum for suicide-prone young people, but it had evolved into a regular forum. It does seem to me that it is okay to say something like, "You're young and your poetry will get better as you age", or something like that. Actually, I went back there, and how I closed the critique was, "You are young, and perhaps all you need is a little life experience to write something really good." I was trying to be positive.

By the way, how many posts do I have to make before I can start a thread? I've looked at the rules, and they don't seem to say.

[milo]

Caleb, If you establish yourself as workshop, as we do, folks accept good critique and modify their poem accordingly. If your poetry site is a vanity one, most are hesitant to accept or respond to recommendations from their peers.

By the way, there are more poetry tips on the sidebar by Collin Ward that are most useful for identifying those common mistakes and avoiding them. Welcome to the site. Cheers/Chris

Thanks to both of you.

No, this was not a vanity site. It was a normal forum, very similar to this one. I was there long enough to find out that it started out as a forum for suicide-prone young people, but it had evolved into a regular forum. It does seem to me that it is okay to say something like, "You're young and your poetry will get better as you age", or something like that. Actually, I went back there, and how I closed the critique was, "You are young, and perhaps all you need is a little life experience to write something really good." I was trying to be positive.

By the way, how many posts do I have to make before I can start a thread? I've looked at the rules, and they don't seem to say.

You need to make 5 helpful critiques outside the newly registered forum in order to start threads outside the newly registered.forum.

As.far as poetry getting better as you age? That is almost pure poppycock. As far as I know, Yeats is the only poet considered to have improved with age after his development period.

[Caleb Murdock]

You need to make 5 helpful critiques outside the newly registered forum in order to start threads outside the newly registered.forum.

As.far as poetry getting better as you age? That is almost pure poppycock. As far as I know, Yeats is the only poet considered to have improved with age after his development period.

I'm talking about maturing. Most poets do indeed improve from 20 to 30. At 20 I had written nothing good. At 30, I had written several good poems. Now, at 63, I have a facility with words that is better than it was at 45.

Can I put a URL to a web site in my signature?

[Todd]

I mostly practiced the top three. I think it's easy to write meaningless poetry. You forget early on that subtext and what you're feeling doesn't convey to the page--you need solid imagery to do that. I think the woe is me poetry is mostly just tell not show crap.

[ellajam]

I still get tripped by all five. The only one I don't fall into is billy's 6th. I may be a subpar poet, but even I'm not that stupid (usually).

[Leanne]

Just copying this to the Newly Registered forum because I get sick of repeating myself, and I know that other readers do also.

[brandontoh]

Some of the threads there are comedic gold though.

[billy]

yes if it's to a site you actually frequent, sorry for not replying sooner.

You need to make 5 helpful critiques outside the newly registered forum in order to start threads outside the newly registered.forum.

As.far as poetry getting better as you age? That is almost pure poppycock. As far as I know, Yeats is the only poet considered to have improved with age after his development period.

I'm talking about maturing.  Most poets do indeed improve from 20 to 30.  At 20 I had written nothing good.  At 30, I had written several good poems.  Now, at 63, I have a facility with words that is better than it was at 45.

Can I put a URL to a web site in my signature?

[WildMel]

haha this is great! I've definitely been guilty of #1.

[Leanne]

haha this is great! I've definitely been guilty of #1.

Haven't we all

[azure]

I'm still hard for number one. Trip on it all the time.

[calypist]

I have a deep fear that I'm guilty of writing meaningless poetry often. I tend to have these very sort of abstract ideas that I endeavor to communicate in very vague sort of ways, and It is usually my intention to design my poetry in such a way that it can in fact be interpreted many different ways by the reader, but have also feared for years that it was just a cop-out, as mentioned, and that I was really just fooling myself into believing that there's something worth finding in what I produce that simply isn't there. I've been reading poetry for many years, and feel that we've reached a point in our evolution where it has become exceedingly difficult to reword and rephrase thoughts and feelings and observations, so I guess being extremely "out there" has been my solution to the problem for years. Maybe I'm just not very good? I don't know. I suppose that's why I'm here!

[Leanne]

I think we all start out in that really abstract zone, partly because until we consciously organise them, our thoughts are generally pretty chaotic. We make connections between thoughts that we can't necessarily track logically -- the art of poetry is in helping others to make similar connections, or getting our poetry to a point where it lets others touch our thoughts and spark their own. Abstract isn't bad -- abstract, generic and pointless is bad though

[rayheinrich]

Just copying this to the Newly Registered forum because I get sick of repeating myself,
and I know that other readers do also.

I've never gotten sick of you repeating yourself, and I (having checked
my past notes noting when you yourself have repeated your remark of having gotten sick
while getting sick of repeatedly repeating having gotten sick of and while re-repeating
repeating yourself while getting sick of ray re-repeating your re-repeats of your remarks
of repeatedly re-repeating your sickness of something or other lost to all but Clio seem
never to have repented any of this always) beseech you to grant me the barest
smidgen of unsmitefullness and ice cream (preferably Dulce de Leche or Creole Cream
Cheese).

[Leanne]

If you have too much icecream it will repeat itself and you will be sick of it.

[just mercedes]

I'm sick of things that always happen for the first time.

[Leanne]

It's the second time they happen for the first time that gets to me.