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tell me.
for you, as an individual, how do you KNOW if a poem is good or not?
tell me.
for you, as an individual, how do you KNOW if a poem is good or not?
There are sweet poems and there are discomforting poems, just hits the right level of sweetness or the right eruditic discomfort.
If I like it, it's either good as it is or has the potential to be made better. There needs to be some idea or theme driving it, it needs to not be cliched or clumsy in the word choice and (usually) there's a natural rhythm when I read it that moves me along through the piece.
Ditto to Ange. A poem is effective for me if I feel syntactically, intellectually and emotionally engaged, particularly if the engagement is complex or surprising.
I think that a poem is good when you share some kind of feeling with it when you're done reading it, like something inside moves you. Lately, i've seen a couple that share some "mutual feelings", and there's some kind of bond with it, and you like it because of that. Thats just my personal opinion.
For example:
I read one a couple days ago that talks about hate, but doesn't really say the word "hate",and the message was delivered successfully making me say "i know what this person is trying to say or going through".
and there you go.
like music, art, dance - it has to move you in order for it to work for you.
Yeah, hence why i said "in my opinion". I usually try to do something similar when i write, but i'm still not confident enough with my writings.
all we have are our opinions, airblade. and they are as likely to change as not. what you think about a piece today may bear no resemblance to what you make of it 5 years down the line. that's being human for you
As to your own writings, all you can do is KEEP writing. And reading. Reading and writing. Getting 'good' isn't something that's there instantly, nor is being a decent poet any guarantee against writing a stinker from time to time. We a do it, we've a done it. My older work mostly makes me cringe! BUT I was happy with them at the time because they were the best I'd ever written And we grow as writers only with experience. It's not a process you can rush, and you'll go through many ways of writing - experiment. But above all, ENJOY the whole damned thing. If it gets you down or you find it makes you anxious and too frustrated you gotta start asking yourself if its all worth it.
Have you posted your work here on the forums?
I xould go for the short answer of what Dickinson said. Good poetry should make you feel as if the top of your head has been removed. Lol
For me, my feekings have changed since moving from just a reader to a writer as well. As a reader, I want you to take my head off every time. As a writer, it is my goal to do that, but, realistically, I know that is impossible. Even beloved poets of mine have some clunkers in my opinion.
So, a good poem for me has a flicker of life in it. It makes me be in the moment of what the writer is trying to convey, if only for an instant. It says something I feel in a way I have never heard, or from a viewpoint completely different from mine. It makes me understand the writer's mind, and through its uniqueness, helps me understand the world beyond the small scope of my own vision. It may convey a negative feeling I thought was unique to me and make me feel that I am not alone.
But, as with my music, and my art, being a creature compelled to achieve the above qualities, I find that, after actually engaging in. Writing, composing and drawing, I found much of the people I admired fell down in my eyes. Artists (of all three mediums) I thought genius fell to mere mortals. But on the other hand, some deepened my awe of their conduit to the timeless.
I am now both much more critical and much more forgiving when reading, listening or looking at something creative. If it has no spark for me, I ignore it, but if it contains even a hint, I will try to help the person draw out what I see, to kindle the flame. But of course, I could be way off from their vision, thus I always say 'for me' lol.
...
And yeah, the obligatory 'for me' or 'imo' which is important, really, since some slap up comments which others may read as facts rather than a voicing of a personal perspective.
Somethng that's easily understood and can be shown or disproved with one great, unclear, garbled poem.
This is a great sentence. But that is just my opinion. :>
Billy Collins in a master class once told a group of us that the first line of a poem should be something the reader cannot argue with but must accept. I think it is along the lines of what Bflag is saying in terms of clarity. I think that a poem can shift to greater complexity, but it should always be clear on at least a surface level.
That said, I love finding new layers in a poem on a second read or third read. Noticing technique that was, on the first read, subtle enough to be seamless, or resonances in diction choices--to notice the implications of images. The poem should make sense the first time but should become more interesting rather than less interesting in successive reads. Example: Sylvia Plath's Metaphors poem.
I am not so much concerned with rhymes or absurdities (love Edward Lear, though). A good poem is symbolically moving first to me (which can include the form, but not necessarily a formal one), emotionally moving second and lyrically moving third, at least for me.tell me.
for you, as an individual, how do you KNOW if a poem is good or not?