Welcome to Judge Central! Below are your choices of judge. All judges offer critique with their judgment, but only if asked for. Please make sure you ask for a critique with your entry.
Adimurti
Hello! I'm Adimurti (or Adi, or Chris), twenty-two years of age, and hate writing intros (seriously, who knows what to put in these things?). I love literature. I expect duellists to give 100% in their duels, otherwise what's the point? I love finding out about new forms of poetry, and equally love trying my hand at them, although not always being left with the desired quality. I hate repetition, and any form based on it. Hate. I've been writing for a good seven years - okay, the first couple were awful in quality, but still.
Anyways - that's all I can think of that could be seen as remotely interesting about me, so yeah. Happy duelling!
Aehlae
Hi, I'm Aehlae. I'm awesome! True story.
calivness
Hey, I'm calviness, but most call me cal. I'm a general WF irregular, writing mostly prose, but I've been writing poetry a long time. I do like to crit poetry, and tend to be meticulous in my analysis and like Zeo, tend to be wordy, so be prepared. I'm online all the time because of my current job, so if you have any questions, I'll respond pretty quick. That's pretty much it, I look forward to the duels.
knight_of_chivalry
Heeey all of ye, my username's knight_of_chivalry, but feel free to call me Ed.
I’m mainly a WC reg, with the occasional trip to the OP/L. I'm in my first year of University, use sugarhighs to get me through the day, and crash by roughly 9. This'll be my first time as an official colosseum judge, though I've had experience judging before as a guest judge and also by running a contest with a mini-colosseum running within it (besides critting in the OP/L).
If you want to know more about me, lemme know, if there’s one thing on this earth I know how to do is talk continuously.
Cheers!
Mahayr
LAST RESORT! The others are MUCH better, honestly.
Zeo
I take your submissions seriously and hope that you do as well. If you should ask for my critique: I don’t sugarcoat my critiques, because true art takes work to craft well. I’m a Virgo, so you’ll get a Virgo critique--thorough and nit-picky (grammar, punctuation, line break placements, use of poetic devices). I’m also interested in how a poem communicates to the reader and how effectively it does so. A poem should speak for itself,
so if I feel it is not doing so I will tell you. I prefer free verse and/or prose poetry to forms, but I'll judge/critique form poems as well. I give long, detailed critiques, so be prepared for a novel-length analysis should you seek my insight.
Written as a prelude for a past critique. Please read carefully, JUDGES, and please DO offer feedback.Mahayr
Jewel
Before I give you both my critique and judgment, I would like to say a few things about the way I judge in general and with sestinas in particular (which I will address in my actual
critique/judgment post)
I look at poetry as a personal medium, open to a wide range and variety of acceptance, approval, liking, and opinion. Many critics find themselves locked into a narrow view, based solely on their own preferences and criteria regarding what they see as good poetry. I find this to be a mistake for many reasons.
Poetry, unlike other forms of writing, has a wider diversity of style, form, and expression--often leaving the reader in one of several states. You may show one poem to ten people and receive ten different interpretations or affect resulting in reactions including approval, disapproval, disgust, understanding, perplexity, anger, joy, melancholy, revulsion, etc.
There are two ways to approach an opinion about anything: head (intellectual) or heart (emotional). While we are all affected on an emotional level by anything we read, when it comes to evaluations, I prefer to take a more clinical approach.
While it does matter to me what a poet is trying to say to some degree (especially if I have been given some helpfully insightful explanation), I let the poem speak to me as an individual reader. Who can really know or understand what any given poet is saying? No two people are alike in background, life experience, ideals, spirituality, and other life-molding matters. Matters that will naturally have an impact on what they write and how they write it.
One example I will give of a personal preference in poetic style: capitalization.
I went to the store | I went to the store | I went to the store.
To get apples | to get apples | To get apples.
Because I was | because I was | Because I was.
Hungry. | hungry. | Hungry.
Of course there are many poems that have a universal audience and are clearly understood (we think). There are famous, and accepted as expert, poets whose work is rarely questioned. It may be dissected and explored in various situations but it is rarely accused of being rubbish.
All of that being said, I just wanted to let you know that I base my critiques on technical criteria (and even so am loathe to be harsh regarding any writer's choice of punctuation, grammar, or form unless it is a formal one, unless such things are glaringly unappealing, or unless it is an obvious mistake) more than emotional ones, even though a bit of that may be thrown in based on my own likes and dislikes. Remarks made about a poem may be valid to the writer or not; may validate the intended message, or frustrate the writer by making him feel misunderstood or maligned.
Poetry is more than words on paper. Poetry is a powerful, dynamic, and potentially life-changing experience. If everyone was satisfied by the same styles, content, phraseology, and the like, there would not be so many writers, in any category of writing. Prosody is one thing, enjoyment another.
There is nothing more painful than to be told a poem was "disappointing", "tripe", "unmoving" or any other negative, narrow-sighted opinion. One person's disappointment may be another's applauded surprise. One person's tripe may be another's grateful acknowledgement that there is someone else in the world who relates to a personal circumstance. What may not move me may move you.
Skill and talent are so very much matters of perception, perspective, and are so dependent on a reader's individuality that they defy any concrete evaluation. The most we can hope to achieve is to assist a writer to re-examine his work, think more carefully about such things as word choice, correctness (when dealing with any particular form), structure, and other technicalities, while at the same time encouraging whatever emotional or intellectual message is being conveyed.
Nothing disturbs me more than accusing a poet of omitting details, explanation, or imagery! Fill in the blanks for yourselves! Ohsure, sometimes something has to be said if it's called for, but not in each and every poem read! Some poetry, like prose, may be minimalist. See it for what it is, interpret it as you will, and leave the poor writer free of rude remarks based on that -alone-.
Yes, of course there is the blatantly poor poetry that we all recognize, but even so, the poet may be gently guided to improve, practice, and hone any possible aforementioned skill and talent, whatever his age or experience. Encourage. Do not belittle.
There may be a time and place for brutal opinion, but it must be seen for just that, understood and accepted by both writer and reader, and not used irresponsibly. "I did not like it" is not a valid critique, even when long and tedious reasons are given. If you like it, great. If you do not, critique from your head. Be honest. Be specific. Be clear. Do not expect your little hand will be held as you read. Dead poets do not do that for you, and neither should any living ones.
Ohsure, discussion and exchange of ideas are nice. Welcomed. Learned from. But look at the big picture and remember one thing: In the end, only kindness matters. (Jewel)
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