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OVERVIEW
Providing genuine and thorough critiques and feedback is the cornerstone of World of Poets. Feedback is simply
providing commentary to a poet on their poem you have read. However, critiquing requires much more detail
and is the essential component to our points and ranking system.
If you are relatively new to our site, we recommend that you begin reading feedback only poems. Once you
become familiar with the site, you will then be prepared for the challenges of posting and responding to critique
poems. Please be kind and courteous with your critiques.
Not only will poets appreciate the time, effort, and honesty, you will find that the critiques you receive back will be
equally helpful and full of great insight. After all, the purpose of posting and critiquing poetry is not just in the
joy of it, it is in the learning of it as well.
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FORM
If a poet is using a specific form, how well do they adhere to the requirements of that form? Form can also be
applied to a free verse poem, one with no definite rhyme scheme or form. That is because Form also asks you
to review how well the poet conveys their thoughts. Does the use of punctuation make sense? Is the poem
riddled with spelling errors, etc? Regardless of free verse or strict form, is the piece actually a poem, or more
like thoughts broken up on the page?
TONE
The tone of a poem is roughly equivalent to the mood it creates in the reader. How well does the poet affect
you? The tone may be based on a number of other conventions that the poem uses, such as meter or
repetition. Judge whether or not the poets characters, images, thoughts, ideas, and how well he or she presented
them to you in the poem.
RHYTHM & METER
Simply put: How does the poem “sound” to you? Read it out loud. Does the poem make you stumble,
because of where the poet breaks the lines? Or does it flow from start to finish? How well does the poet use a
rhyme scheme in a poem which contains one? Does the rhyme scheme make sense to you? How good is the
poems tempo? Counting the number of syllables in each line should give you an idea of whether there is a solid
pattern.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
For those who are familiar with the many terms, how well does the poet incorporate Metaphor, Imagery,
Symbolism, Alliteration, Hyperbole, etc into the poem? Basically, you want to consider the quality of the
LANGUAGE in the piece. How well does the poet paint a picture in your mind? How creative is the subject and
how it is conveyed to you? Is the poem original and full of wonderful language, or does it contain simple
language without much flair?
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OVERVIEW
The commentary section allows you to express how you felt about the poem. Please take the time to try to be
thorough and provide each poet with a few thoughts on each of the 4 areas of the critique. At the end of each
critique provide the member with your overall impression.
Tips and Suggestions
Try to be specific about what you liked and disliked. Try to use the actual terms of the 4 categories in your
review. Saying “I really liked your poem” really says nothing at all. However, saying “I liked how you made
every other word rhyme, it really worked for me, ” is specific.
You do not need to write a novel to write a good review. I constantly see commentary filled with “I felt that way
once…” “I had this experience before”, etc. I would like to see the comment area specifically address the poem
itself. We have a mail system and a bulletin board and a chat room reserved for sharing experiences. Try to
pack a punch in your commentary.
If you can’t find ANYTHING good to say about the poem at all, then why not just pass it up and move to another
one? I am not saying ignore the opportunity to help a poet, but if it is truly that bad, there is no need to review
it.
Also, if you do give someone poors or fairs…be kind and gently be specific about what they can do to improve it.
If you point out the specific areas, always being mindful to find SOMETHING of value in the piece, it is up to the
member to realize it is not a personal attack and to respond using the Review Response Guidelines if they
disagree.
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