Welcome to Gaia! ::

...DOING something for the world.

Recently I set up a new account on deviantart to move from my old, angsty sounding, angsty reading account [Hated-Riddler, if you wanna see all my old CRAP and my improvement since reading the poetry stickies]. One of the first things I did was set up a thread in the thumbshare forum to critique poetry.

I had a response.

It's rare to find a good critic on deviantart because they've such a huge art community and such a small forum community. Usually you'll see threads whose titles read, 'Will critique anything! -no poetry' or that will be in the rules, crushing lots of aspiring poets' hearts. On the other hand, I made a thread for nothing but poetry. I hate reading prose xd

So anyways. I'm critiquing this morning- 5:26 AM, what AM I thinking?!- and I realize that I'm doing something for someone. I might be helping them get better. eek

Do you think critique is good or bad? Does it help or discourage? Isn't it FUN to do it when you're in the mood? xp

Critiques have definately helped me since coming here. But I've never really been into critiquing myself. Poetry's so subjective to begin with, it feels kind of wrong, at least to me, to argue with someone (because that's pretty much what you're doing) about the ideas and images that they've created. On issues of grammar and spelling and the like, I can see why pointing things out would help, but I make mistakes in those areas too. Perhaps I don't feel well enough equipped, or I wish to avoid being a b*****d.

It does make me sad to see guys like Vannak and Maj Kai Nis really lay into people. Granted, when they do so, its because they're seeing the same thing over and over and over and over again, but I think they get their kicks out of it. Maybe an insecurity issue? Who knows? But, at least for now, I'll steer clear of critiques.

What a loss to the arts! rofl

Really...someone loves him...besides Jesus? rofl I kid..I kid...(somewhat) xp

What really makes me uncomfortable is reading someone's critique when they're demanding that you make their suggested changes. Some people just take themselves so damn seriously, it makes me wonder if they're not doing it enough for the both of us, you know?

Critiques can be difficult to accept on the whole. Generally speaking I look at a critique as no different from an effortless response coming from someone with no intention of trying to help me improve. The critic is easier to analyze this way, and their personal views of writing come into clearer focus.

Several of those who I see critiquing most often and stringently here in Gaia, for example, seem to have an odd fixation for grammar that they call "being literate." Seeing something like this tends to make me think, 'Well, no, being literate means being able to effectively wield a language. If you deliberately avoid understanding an image because it wasn't built according to your syntax specifications, you're actually illiterate because of self-imposed restrictions of your understanding.' I realize that not all alterations to language constitutes "artistic license," but when a critic simply ignores the possibility that an awkward phrasing or improper punctuation is in place on purpose, the whole critique loses impact - it seems much more as though the would-be critic is actually just someone trying to get his or her editing rocks off at the expense of some hapless writer.

The opposite is typically more obvious and easier to disregard. This is the critic who offers little more than, "I could feel, like, your -soul- coming through the words!" Encouragement is always a good thing, but hearing only positive remarks tends to make me doubt the critic's judgement in this regard, and so I go looking for second/third/etc. opinions.

I don't really care about how a critic presents their opinion stylistically, as long as things aren't hostile. If the content is solid, I usually ignore the rest. Ditto if the content is weak. Critiques are only as good as what a writer sees in them, anyway: it could be that in reading an otherwise misguided critique I'll find something completely unrelated that I can improve to make something more clear or powerful. For that reason, I recommend carefully reading any legible critique you receive at least twice, just to make sure you got everything out of it.

On a side note: I only offer critiques when I find something of particular interest or importance in a piece, something I feel I can point out in a constructive or progressive way to the writer, which is why I haven't critiqued most of the content in A GoD's poetry section. I'm as careful in writing my critiques as I am in my other writing, most of the time, so it's sadly inconsistent in appearance. Sorry! sweatdrop

My aim in criticism is to be a Hoodimann to critiques.

I've read your critiques. I think you do a fabulous job of balancing giving criticism and finding good things within a piece.