Neo-Victorian Poetry
  • Steampunk Poems
  • Romantic Poems
  • Christian Poems
  • Other Poems
  • Blog
  • Home

Everyone's  a critic ... I hope.

8/11/2013

0 Comments

 
There was once an ancient punishment called "running the gauntlet."  The one being penalized had to run between two flanking rows of men who wielded whips or clubs, and who beat on the criminal all along the way.

When faced with criticism, one runs the risk of a trial by fire, which can feel equally abusive.  The point here, though, is that of facing critical appraisal of one's work, be it poetry, prose,  or any other style of writing. 

Testing one's metal, though initially daunting, need not inspire fear.  It is a necessary device for proving the merit of ones work.  Without it, the writer can call prey to self delusion, or to acknowledgements that are overtly effusive.

I find it a difficult task to locate trustworthy and candid critics beyond my own family, who are my best critics.  They are willing to scrutinize my poems and to give me an honest, sometimes disappointing, appraisal.  I am most fortunate in this.

It's easy to accept the accolades of well meaning readers, or of those who are reluctant to hurt the writer's feelings.  There are also those who simply find it difficult to give a meaningful account of their reactions to a work.  

In such cases, both the work and the writer can fall heir to prolonged stagnation. Beyond my own family, the issue has become one of sometimes begging for criticism.  Essentially, when there are no walls to bounce off of, how can one define oneself?  





 

  


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    About the author:

    I've written many poems over the years.  This blog is a preview of my books: Echoes, Neo-Victorian Poetry (April 2013), Echoes ll, More Neo-Victorian Poetry (May 2014), Echoes lll, Even More Neo-Victorian Poetry, (August 2016), A Compilation of Echoes. (September 2016), and When None Command (April 13, 2019)

    Archives

    December 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly