Which is more important?

[milo]

I'm curious as to what others may think of my work, but at the end of the day, I just read the criticism and go on with my day. I take both types of criticisms (positive and negative) with a grain of salt, thank those who commented for their time, and move on. What else can I do?

Hello Simatong,

I think you miss a great opportunity to learn by just shrugging off critique! It's always valuable to try out ideas by others, you can always reject them afterwards. But by experimenting with ideas by others you usually come up with new ideas of yourself as well.

I don't think a poem is less "from the heart" when we use our brain as well by the way. I feel that our job is to make the reader feel something, not to necessarily revel in our own feelings. And achieving that is in large part also a cerebral craft.

I agree that it can be a cerebral craft, but be it cerebral or emotive, it is still an extremely subjective thing. Already, I have written works that have gotten praise and scathing reviews on this forum. Some say they like the message behind the words, while others call it cliched. Two different people with differing views on one piece. Indeed, what sounds cliche to one might seem beautiful to another. Poetry is such a subjective thing that, even when taking in both positive and negative feedback, I find it best to analyze the analysis I receive, thank the person for their time, and then move on, seeing what else inspires me and what else can be seen in another's artistry. Anything other than that and I feel I would either become lost or turn my poetry in to something that reflects the work of another instead of what lies in my heart, and if a poet loses his own voice to the noise of the crowd, what does that say of his craft other than that it no longer exists as something individual?

Pardon the length but -

The Rules (by Dennis Hammes)

The Rules.

1. Make certain your readers understand that, with five billion
people on the planet, your feeling is perfectly unique. If your
poem does not say this, your explanatory prelude must.

2. Make certain your readers understand that, while the species
has been making arts for 27,000 years (that we know of), your
feeling has never before been experienced. If your poem does not
say this, your explanatory prelude must.

3. Make certain your readers understand that your feeling is both
too unique and too novel to be couched in the standard language of
any country or people. If your poem does not say this, your
explanatory prelude must.

4. Make certain your readers understand that, while you may
condescend to use their pathetic attempt at a language, you must
alter its spelling and punctuation according to the dictates of your
most-novel and -unique feeling. If your poem does not say this,
your explanatory prelude must.

5. Make certain your readers understand that their pathetic rules
concerning sound and form, and their effect on rhetorical period,
have nothing to do with the expression of your feeling, since your
feeling is so unique and novel as to be utterly unaffected by the
manner of delivery. If your poem does not say this, your
explanatory prelude must.

6. Make certain your readers understand that any who do not
understand the finer points of your feeling, including especially
that it unique and novel, is a troll. If your poem does not say
this, your explanatory prelude must.

7. Make certain your readers understand that your feeling is so
pure that any rules of language or techniques of poetry would only
sully it. If your poem does not say this, your explanatory prelude
must.

8. Make certain your readers understand that you, yourself, are
so unique and novel, but especially so pure, as to have no need of
any technique discovered by lesser masters. If your poem does not
say this, your explanatory prelude must.

9. Make certain your readers understand that nobody can read your
poem, or understand your unique and novel feeling, nor especially
its purity, without your personal intervention and help given in
several sessions to their pathetic inabilities to read their own
language. If your poem does not say this, your explanatory prelude
must.

10. Make certain your readers understand that your pure spirit
will be available eternally to help those pathetic trolls understand
your unique and novel feeling, and personally chastise those who
just don't get it. If your poem does not say this, you have endless
space on the internet to explain this at length, especially if your poem
can't.