Poetry Criticism Template
Giving good feedback on poetry can be as difficult as writing a poem. The
personal nature of poetry can make us hesitate to offer criticism. Yet the
outcome of our hesitancy can be a deafening silence for a poet. I hope it won't
be like this for Ascriber/Writerseyes poets.
Below I've made a template for you to offer criticism. It's purely personal.
It makes no attempt to be authoritative. It's merely one way of looking at
poetry. But just by giving a mark (1-10) in each of the 8 fields can give a
poet a sense of where his/her strengths and weaknesses may lie. Add comments if
you want to.
Criticism
1 Meaning (mark 1-10)
What does the poem say?
- Does the poem have anything important or original to say? Or is it just a
rehash of already well-worn ideas?
- Are you forced to look at something in a new way? From a new perspective? Has
the poem changed your views? Made you look deeper?
- Do you have a sense of having encountered difficulties? Or the irresolvable?
How far did the poet take you on the journey into meaning?
2 Form (mark 1-10)
- Has the poet chosen a formal structure? (Sonnet? Haiku? Villanelle?) Is this
a good choice for the subject matter? Does it add anything to the exploration?
Or is it a slavish adherence propping up inadequate thought?
- Has the poet created his own structure? Does this work?
- Does the poet succeed in creating an overarching sense of form?
Completeness? Circularity?
Irresolution? Is there a real sense of shape to this poem? Or if it feels
shapeless is this intentional, functional?
3 Imagery (mark 1-10)
- Does the poet use fresh and original images?
- Are the images, apposite? Strained? Precise? Vivid?
- Is there a sense of actual encounter in the imagery? Or are the images
second-hand, picked off a shelf? Tangential to the main themes, or a dynamic
forcing the poem and its thoughts forward?
- Do they clarify and enrich the poem?
4 Diction (mark 1-10)
- Have the words fallen haphazardly upon the page or do you have a sense of the
poet choosing words carefully?
- A word, perhaps, that initially looks out of place but on further inspection
makes you look deeper into the subject?
- Is it a complex vocabulary? Full of words of Latin origin? A simple, earthy,
perhaps Anglo Saxon vocabulary? Either way, are these words working well?
5 Rhythm (mark 1-10)
- Has the poet chosen a rhyme scheme? If so, why? Does it work effectively to
body forth the meanings of the poem? Do the rhymes flow? Does the writer strain
to achieve them? Is this deliberate?
- If there is not a rhyme scheme has the poet chosen some other rhythmic
device?
- Does the poem seem to flow with the grain or does it work against it?
Progress falteringly? Is there a sense of a difficult medium, of words being
sculpted or forced into being? Some intransigence compelled into meaning?
- How did the poet address his subject matter and how has this affected the
rhythmic operation of the poem?
6 Feeling (mark 1-10)
- Do you feel moved by the poem? Did it make you want to laugh? Was this
intentional? Did it make you feel sad? Was the poem expressed forcefully,
feelingly, tenderly? Were there false notes in the poem? Did the poet stretch
beyond experience and leave you unconvinced? Was there a sense of reality to
the poem, of something encountered in a particular way, by a particular person,
operating with a particular emotional or tonal substrata, with feelings open?
- Did the poem change the way you feel?
7 Returning (mark 1-10
)
You've finished the poem. Do you want to return and read it again? Do you have
a sense of further meanings? Subtleties you'd like to re-explore? Particular
lines you'd like to taste again?
8 Overall mark (mark 1-10)
Poetry isn't a checklist. Poets often write because there is something (a
feeling, a thought, an idea) they can't quite put their finger on. When a poem
becomes a near-visceral working out of these energies we can often be
confronted by a work of extraordinary force. A piece that defies all our rules
yet lives on in our hearts. A poem can break every rule in the book yet be a
great poem. Give the poem an overall mark.
***
I hope you join in this exercise and take it lightly. Any structure any
opinions and any marks are purely subjective - we all know that. We reveal as
much about ourselves in the marking as the poet does in the writing. There is a
democracy to criticism. And a spirit of shared concern. Join with that spirit
and offer your honest thoughts.
Ben Edwards
