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Writing poetry is like any other creative endeavor- the work itself will always seem to be in a state of flux for the creator. It's perfectly natural for a writer to seek outside opinions before beginning the sometimes painful task of revising and honing the piece. Most of the time these opinions are constructive and useful, but occasionally the comments will have a negative or meanspirited connotation. Deciding which is which is usually up to the writer himself, but it helps to have a full understanding of the peculiar lingo that poets have developed over the years when asked to critique the work of others. Here are five of the most common criticisms a beginning writer may receive from professional critics, and how to interpret them for maximum benefit.
1. "Tighten the lines". The freeverse poetry form did free poets from all those restrictions imposed by formal verse, but that doesn't mean that they are free to do whatever they want. Good freeverse poetry depends on a delicate balance of tension and release. Poets accomplish this by varying the length of each line to either create a very terse combination of words or loosen the tension through longer lines. If your poem has received a criticism that mentions 'tightening', the critic feels that your present lines do not create enough tension to sustain reader interest. The quick fix for this situation is to simply chop the lines into bite-sized pieces, but that is not the best fix. What you need to do is re-examine the poem from a standpoint of stronger and weaker words. You want to break the lines in such a way that the more concrete words (nouns, verbs) get the strongest emphasis, i.e. placement at the beginning of the line. Other words which are weaker grammatically (articles, prepositions, most adjectives) should never be given undue strength by opening the line. Learning how to break lines effectively is a challenge for any writer, regardless of experience level.
2. "Show, don't tell". This is a favorite pet criticism of many writers. In poetry, 'show, don't tell' refers to the tendency of beginning poets to think like prose writers. In prose writing, emphasis is usually placed on creating a specific setting in the reader's mind. A prose writer would describe a dinner at Grandmother's house like this: "The table was covered from one end to the other by a large gingham quilt that Grandma had made in her youth. The turkey had a beautiful golden brown crust, with the juices forming rivulets on the plate..." Very evocative, but far too wordy for poetry. Good poetry would 'show' the effect of Grandma's cooking rather than tell the reader every detail as it unfurls:
We took in her love with
scoops of gravy,
as Grandpa found
comfort in carving.
The action is implied, not described. Whenever you receive this criticism, you'll need to pare down your descriptive passages to a bare minimum.
3. "Overmodified". One of the most common traps that beginning poets fall into is overmodification. Since most poetry writers started out reading prose as a child, the temptation to use an abundance of adjectives and adverbs is deeply ingrained. Modern poetry is driven by strong imagery and the strategic use of 'tension and release', not by the more prosaic use of descriptive modifiers. This does not mean that adjectives and adverbs are secondary elements of poetry, but their overuse is strongly discouraged by critics. If your poem receives a criticism referring to modification, what the critic is really trying to tell you is stick to the facts. Not every noun in a poem needs to have a descriptive adjective, nor does every verb need an adverb for clarity. Consider the following two examples of a descriptive passage. Which one sounds more like prose and which sounds more like poetry?:
The small, yellow canary spread his fragile feathers and took flight hastily.
The canary senses flight in every ruffle, every breeze.
The second example is closer to poetic phrasing. The reader does not need to know anything more about the canary except its state of mind. In fact, if the first sentence were repeated even a few times, the reader would probably begin to lose interest rapidly.
4. "Trite, didactic, proselytizing". Any of these words can spell major disappointment for a writer. No one appreciates being preached at for very long, nor do they want to read a stack of worn-out, tired aphorisms and cliches. This doesn't mean that you must abandon your enthusiasm or your passion for a controversial subject matter, but you must temper that enthusiasm with a little creativity. Religious or protest poetry is very prone to these sorts of criticisms. The piece itself may have its heart in the right place, but readers are rarely eager to be forced into accepting beliefs counter to their own. If you receive this sort of criticism from a critic that you trust implicitly, then you will have to go back into the poem and tone down the rhetoric or find a less contentious way to get your point across. If you suspect that the criticism is not coming from an objective source, then try to get a few more honest critiques before 'sugarcoating' a powerful piece. Clearly poetry with a message should be accorded the same rights as any other style of poetry, but it is still the writer's responsibility to make that message sting without bashing the reader's head with 'The Big Hammer of Truth'.
5. "Forced rhyme". This is a big no-no for formal poetry writers everywhere. Forced rhyme can be found in amateur poetry everywhere you look. Its presence is so pervasive that poetry markets specifically mention 'forced rhyme' as one of the criteria for manuscript rejection. In a nutshell, forced rhyme occurs when the writer is so desperate for a rhyming word that he or she convolutes the entire structure of the poem to make a 'proper' fit. This is often referred to in professional circles as 'Moon/June/Spoon' poetry. An amateur poet may not even realize that he or she is guilty of this practice. But any poet who has critiquing experience will spot forced rhyme immediately. Here's an example of forced rhyme, with all due apologies:
I hoped that she was heaven-sent,
For me I found my heart's cement.
I hope you have the same reaction I did when I wrote that phrase. Of all the words that would have fit the mood of the first line, why would I choose the word 'cement'? Because I didn't spend the time to choose a more appropriate end rhyme. The second line had to be inverted in order to fit the rhyme and rhythmic structure. This is why it is called 'forced' rhyme. All that force is used to make a round word fit into a square line, and it still sounds ridiculous and trite. If you receive this sort of criticism, spend some time reading good formal poetry to see how the established poets would have handled the phrasing problem. Consider what underlying sentiment you are trying to express in rhyme and find more appropriate words that will work. Consult a 'rhyming dictionary' if you cannot think of any other way to phrase your lines. Forced rhyme is not a crime, but takes some time to be sublime. You get the idea.
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