05-28-2013, 03:32 PM
I think it does take a while to get into the "crit thing" esp. for those who are unfamiliar with using a forum or perhaps even the idea of having feedback to poetry at all. I also read Jean's first crit and thought "that's really great crit for a first effort" When I first joined I did what it appears many other newbie’s do, and went on a posting frenzy (and yes this was done hoping to receive praise...because I had not taken the time to read the site rules and guidelines or even take in the concept of how a workshop forum worked)...It took me some weeks to get the plot and to stop having a knee jerk reaction to every non complimentary word - shallow and dull person that I am! 
For me the crit comments have become a really important feature of the site as a tool to learn - almost as important as actually posting my own poems. Just recently I'm spending as much time in reading not only the poems I have worked on but also all of the offered crit on other poems as I feel that I need to have a greater understanding of how words communicate different things to different readers and this in turn is giving me valuable insight that I can then apply to my own poems. Also I find that I still have days of crushing insecurity and no inspiration when it comes to reading and offering crit (does this ever go away?
)...so reading the crit of others is a good way of improving your reading skills.
I suppose what I have done here is to reiterate a longer version of what Milo has said above
, but the thing that I've noticed in my own writing and reading / crit giving is that I am always learning something new and (as Milo also said 
), picking up new inspiration and as much of this is coming from reading and being involved with giving crit, as it is from reading the poetry itself or even writing my own poetry and receiving crit on this. (Perhaps this - the need to read being greater than a need to write, is just one of those phases that every writer goes through - I don't know). My advice to any new poet or forum participator would be, first off, try to get over yourself asap! Then sit back and chill out a bit and take a good look at every aspect of what is going on the site; I would suggest that the giving, receiving and reading of a wide range of crit is key to everything that is going on here. If you don't get into the crit - then you are missing out.
For me the crit comments have become a really important feature of the site as a tool to learn - almost as important as actually posting my own poems. Just recently I'm spending as much time in reading not only the poems I have worked on but also all of the offered crit on other poems as I feel that I need to have a greater understanding of how words communicate different things to different readers and this in turn is giving me valuable insight that I can then apply to my own poems. Also I find that I still have days of crushing insecurity and no inspiration when it comes to reading and offering crit (does this ever go away?
)...so reading the crit of others is a good way of improving your reading skills.I suppose what I have done here is to reiterate a longer version of what Milo has said above
, but the thing that I've noticed in my own writing and reading / crit giving is that I am always learning something new and (as Milo also said ), picking up new inspiration and as much of this is coming from reading and being involved with giving crit, as it is from reading the poetry itself or even writing my own poetry and receiving crit on this. (Perhaps this - the need to read being greater than a need to write, is just one of those phases that every writer goes through - I don't know). My advice to any new poet or forum participator would be, first off, try to get over yourself asap! Then sit back and chill out a bit and take a good look at every aspect of what is going on the site; I would suggest that the giving, receiving and reading of a wide range of crit is key to everything that is going on here. If you don't get into the crit - then you are missing out.