Is My Poem Bad or Good?

My six-year-old adores peanut butter, jelly and cheese sandwiches. However, her siblings want her to eat outside so they don't lose their appetites. Every time she adds that cheese they want to convince her to keep it out of her sandwich.

You'll find a lot of advice on how to perfect your poetry. You'll also find advice on how to review, critique and edit your own work - as well as the poetry of others.

What we sometimes fail to do is realize that these levels are less a ranking of bad, good and great and more an indication of the poet's motivation and maturity - that's literary skills learned and used, not behavior or physical age. All poetry has its purpose, its benefits and its audience.

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Cathartic Poetry

This type of verse has the lowest literary level and the highest stress release level. The audience is usually small: the poet and perhaps some family and close friends. Others outside this circle may enjoy this work because of its raw, uncut emotion but many others are turned off because it is self-indulgent (which is actually part of its purpose - "this is me and this is how I am feeling right now").

Simple or Greeting Card Verse

This poetry has a lower literary level - simple rhyme and not much depth or imagery. While this is not mature poetry it has a large audience. There is a paying market for some of this poetry, but it is competitive - like all poetry markets.

Maturing Poetry

This type of verse has a higher literary level than the two above. Whether the poet chooses to rhyme or not, the words are chosen to add depth and imagery. It has a fairly large audience with a paying market.

Mature Verse

This poetry has the highest literary level. Every word is chosen with the purpose to create art on paper. It has a small audience with a paying market.

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Is Your Poem Bad or Good?

Does this make cathartic poetry bad? No. If we're honest, we'll all admit that we've written it. I consider myself a maturing poet and I still write it. Does that make mature verse great? Not necessarily. My mother, a highly intelligent and highly educated woman, once told me after reading one of my poems, "I don't really understand it, so it must be good." I felt like the poem had failed to serve its purpose. While I hope to create at least one poetic masterpiece in my lifetime, I am happy to stay at this level because I will touch more readers with my words. That is what motivates me.

Decide who your audience is and write with them in mind. If they like your poem consider it a success.

In the End

With each poem you write, find your motivational level and embrace it. It's your poem. Just because you don't like peanut butter, jelly and cheese sandwiches doesn't make it bad or need any help to make it better - but peanut butter, jelly and cheese sandwich chefs should also realize that there are other tastes in the world (or even in their own house) and not everyone will enjoy a bite - or even want to have a bite - of that sandwich.

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