Alright people. Before you try to tackle these two themes, you do realize that Shakespeare, Edgar Alen Poe, and a lot of other big name passionate, depressed people HAVE tried UNSuccesfully to present these topics. Why do you guys insist on writing the hardest topics for poetry when you start off? It will have a 95% chance of sucking ass not because you suck asa writer but because it is hard to write about death or love. Comon people! Poetry like Dr.Seuss or some funny stuff. PLEASE SPARE US.

I want to argue, frankly because I like arguing... but I don't disagree... make it happen, we want Seuss!

Poetry like Dr.Seuss or some funny stuff. PLEASE SPARE US.

Higidy pigidy had a big sock,
Higidy pigidy placed it on his cock,
Higidy pigidy began to knocked,
The sock that was placed on his cock.

You're an idiot, people might write about stuff like love and death because they enjoy it or can even relate, well not so much with death. Don't bitch about other people's work and what they should or shouldn't do, just improve on your own.

You're an idiot. You completely took what Dragoncurry said out of context. You also sound like an idiot for saying not to bitch about other people's work. They post it here for people to read it and comment upon it. That also includes criticism.

You're an idiot. You completely took what Dragoncurry said out of context. You also sound like an idiot for saying not to bitch about other people's work. They post it here for people to read it and comment upon it. That also includes criticism.

I looked at it in a different aspect. How does that make me sound like an idiot? He said not to post stuff about life or death at all. Im sure people post here for constructive criticism, i dont think "PLEASE SPARE US" is just that.

Well, I did not say do not write anything at all. In fact, the last line probably implies that but I did not mean it like you think. Here let me explain it a bit differently.

A person posts a poem about death and love, and most of the time (Don't tell me I am lying because I am not) because people think, "Hey let me write poetry and poetry = something about death or love." Of course there are people who can relate to it but most of the time, people don't. If you read some of the stuff posted here, love/death poems are from their journal entries or something they did when they were bored or maybe from a poetry, writing class. Which is FINE since this is a forum and you can do whatever you want BUT they get sad or angry when people like mrmonkeyman or Prak come and say it sucks. Even though they are right. Love and Death are extremes and very hard to explain correctly. And then we have 7 pages of bitching.

Because honestly, the best thing to do to a lot of poetry is to scrap it and start over. So that is why I said please spare us. Take your time, read it over and 95% of the time, scrap it and start over.

So I am sorry if I came across as scathing or harsh. I just wanted to say that if you feel that this board is harsh or mean, it isnt. It is just telling you the truth. Love and Death are hard topics and most people who write poetry do not relate to these things and therefore fail to do it right (if you can say something in poetry is "right", but you know what I mean). I am not bitching at people because people can do whatever they want but I am just trying to give a reason why people respond harshly to a lot of the work presented here.

Yeah I totally agree here. Most fan fiction is shit no matter what the source material, but to write about something so complex and diverse as love or death requires the writer to have experienced such feelings and even then they will need to have a good standard of English to portray their emotions articulately and stop it flowing (to put it in the fine words of Prak) "like frozen molasses".

Hmm.. I agree too. Looking back, i usually end up scrapping most of my writing because i know its crap. I think being a good writer and being able to write about such complex things as love, life, death, dying...you have to look over everything and keep finding faults, that way only your best ideas surface and what your writing is more worthwhile.

Yeah I totally agree here.

You usually do don't you?


to write about something so complex and diverse as love or death requires the writer to have experienced such feelings


"people might write about stuff like love and death because they enjoy it or can even relate"



they will need to have a good standard of English to portray their emotions articulately and stop it flowing.

If you don't have a good standard of english then you shouldn't even bother with poetry. Though i do agree. I also now agree with Dragoncurry, few good points :)

Yeah I totally agree here.

You usually do don't you?


to write about something so complex and diverse as love or death requires the writer to have experienced such feelings


"people might write about stuff like love and death because they enjoy it or can even relate"



they will need to have a good standard of English to portray their emotions articulately and stop it flowing.

If you don't have a good standard of english then you shouldn't even bother with poetry. Though I do agree. I also now agree with Dragoncurry, few good points :)

Aaaahh shit, double post, I blame my computer :P

"people might write about stuff like love and death because they enjoy it or can even relate"



lol

Quote of the year.

Aaaahh shit, double post, I blame my computer :P
Why not edit the second one instead of making it a triple?

:O I actually meant to do that!!

Yeah, I understand. I often miss the edit button, highlight quick reply, type a message and click post reply, all the while meaning to lick on edit!

Whenever someone attempts to tackle a theme in any form of writing I believe they should know something about it first from personal experience in order to get a good idea of exactly what emotions/thoughts they want to express in writing while at the same time making sure it's something the readers can relate to.

Saying that though on internet forums I don't tend to take this stuff that seriously. I've read a fair bit of fan fiction on various chatboards and personally so long as it's understandable, entertaining and has a point to it then I don't mind that fact that it's unrealistic or not up to a professional writers standard =)

this is a forum and you can do whatever you want BUT they get sad or angry when people like mrmonkeyman or Prak come and say it sucks.


To put a piece of work onto a forum in the first place takes some guts, you just got to be prepared for what individuals think, if you don't like. Tough.

Take a hint from Hitler when no one liked his paintings...

(Don't try to rule the world, move on..)

To put a piece of work onto a forum in the first place takes some guts, you just got to be prepared for what individuals think, if you don't like. Tough.

Especially on this forum!!

Especially on this forum!!

If it isn't like this on every forum, it is bad for your health.

you do realize that Shakespeare [and] Edgar Alen Poe ... HAVE tried UNSuccesfully to present these topics.
...

Sorry, what?

Edgar Allen Poe and Shakespeare were unsuccessful in depicting love or death?

If that is seriously what you meant in that post, then I don't know where to begin in my reply. @_@

If you don't know where to start, best not to respond at all, however, he is right because although they did try, they failed because it is impossible to encompass every approach to those subjects in just one poem. No poem will ever exist that will be able to accurately portray love or death simply because they are filled with complexities that don't apply in every situation.

i say you should all read this:


return to me, o dream of my heart,
and see these endless stars,
let passion not stand in the way of love,
or poison kill our lust,
breathe into these shadows and make them live,
for i want to live once more.

argue with that

You're an idiot, people might write about stuff like love and death because they enjoy it or can even relate, well not so much with death. Don't bitch about other people's work and what they should or shouldn't do, just improve on your own.
Who the fuck enjoys writing about dying? You must be one sadistic fuck to enjoy writing about death.

Actually you'll have a 99.9999999999999999999999999999999999% chance of making a total an utter shit poem tackling that subject.

I don't mind people writing about their emotions, but please keep it to yourself, because generally stuff like that sucks.

...

Sorry, what?

Edgar Allen Poe and Shakespeare were unsuccessful in depicting love or death?

If that is seriously what you meant in that post, then I don't know where to begin in my reply. @_@

Yea, sorry, but I really have a hard time believing you can't at least appreciate the beauty in their writing, even if you don't like the subject.

Ok wait a second. Did you even understand what I said? I didn't say Shakespeare or Poe sucked. They were great. Greater than YOU. That's why if THEY had a hard time writing about death (and yes Poe could relate to that kind of stuff from the shit happening in his location/time period alone), imagine how hard it would be for one of US to write one.

So what the hell are you talking about?

You know, I didn't mean to make you so defensive about it, and I'm sorry I so obviously misinterpereted what you said, but you don't have to be a jerk. Stop nagging on people who enjoy being creative-it's not like you are being forced to read it, right?

You said guys like Poe were unsuccessful at writing about stuff like death, but I think there are a lot of people who would argue with that.

But you know what? This is really pointless, so I'm not going to bother it anymore. Sorry I ever said anything.

Not that I disagree with the general sentiment of "be careful when writing something because it may suck!", but what were Poe's failures about Love and/or Death?

Just curious.

You can list Shakespeare's too!

also I think love and death are pretty common fairly universal themes and a decent writer will probably have little trouble doing a decent job expressing their opinions on them.

I think he means that if someone with as much experience and skill as shakespeare found it difficult to write about love and death, than someone with this little amount of experience and skill attempting to do a better job is bound to fail.


Theoretically.

You're an idiot, people might write about stuff like love and death because they enjoy it or can even relate, well not so much with death. Don't bitch about other people's work and what they should or shouldn't do, just improve on your own.
You probably think that John Maynard is a poet, though, so who gives a shit what you think.

Wait, who the fuck is this John Maynard? Some n00b?

Lead singer of Tool/APC.