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Reacting to Critique

Gwyneth Box

There are plenty of places you can receive comment and critique on your poetry: you may belong to a writers' group; you may participate in critique forums on the internet, or e-mail feedback lists; you may pay for professional critique, or receive it as a perk with your subscription to a small press magazine or entry to a competition; some editors make comments on your work when they return it to you. All in all, it's not difficult to get comments on your writing, but what should you do with the feedback when you've got it?

Remember the comments are about your writing, not about you! If someone is rude or negative about what you have written, it can hurt. Even if they say that the piece is well-written but they personally don't like it, it's still difficult not to feel personally rejected. But if we ask for critique, presumably it's because we want to make our writing as good as it can be before we show it to an editor or a wider audience. If you aren't ready to separate yourself from your writing and accept criticsm of the latter, then you probably aren't ready to offer your work for publication and run the risk of a rejection letter. A negative comment about what you have written is not a negative comment about you as a person, or even about you as a writer. If the critic picks up on a spelling, punctuation or grammar error, be glad that this has been caught before you showed the work to a prospective editor. If they criticise the style of writing, it's harder to be clear what constitutes a real error, and where personal taste comes into play, but the critic has a right to his opinion even if it doesn't coincide with yours.

Consider the credentials of the critic. I don't think a person needs to be a poet before they are qualified to comment on poetry; indeed, I know of good poets who are incapable of giving useful comments on others' work, and expert critics who are incapable of practising what they preach. So, skill in one writing form is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for a person to be adept as a critic of the same form. However, it will help you assess the critique if you have some idea of the tastes and experience of the person who is commenting on your work.

If the comments come from an editor, you can look at what type of writing they publish to get an idea of what their preferences are. If you are part of a writers' circle, you will usually have the opportunity to hear or read the other participants' work, and also hear their critique of other people's work. This latter can be particularly useful, as it will show you whether your views coincide about third party writing, and you will get a feel for whether there is any empathy in your attitudes.

It's very useful to get a cross section of opinions. If you take the advice of a single critic, however expert, you may end up with work which doesn't reflect your own style: your own voice may be drowned out. If you can get a variety of comments from people with different preferences and experience, you have a better chance of finding advice which will reinforce what you are trying to say.

Don't immediately believe the first person who comments. I've seen writers rush to change their work because of one personís advice, without waiting for further feedback. On more than one occasion, my own comments would have directly contradicted the first opinion. This meant that I didn't bother to respond at all - I felt my opinion was unwanted - and I suspect there were others who felt the same way.

It's usually wiser to wait until you have several comments which you can compare. If a number of people all say there's a problem at the same place, you can be fairly sure there really is a problem. On the other hand, if half the critics say one phrase is weak, and half say it's the best part of the work, you have to think for yourself and decide which is the truth. (This is where knowing something about the background of the critics is useful - you know who is more likely to be seeing things in the way that you hope they will be seen.)

Try not to think of the comments as relevant only to the work in hand. Look at them in a broader context and try to understand the principles behind the criticisms. Instead of taking it as a superficial single-instance critique, work out what reasoning is behind it and see if this can be applied to your other work.

Remember that you do not need to act on every piece of advice you receive, even if it comes from critics you respect. There are times when a comment criticising a word or phrase is enough to make you reconsider your original usage and reinforce the idea that you have made the right choice. This is a perfectly valid reaction to feedback, and demonstrates that even comments you disagree with can be useful.

Be prepared to experiment and rewrite. There are times when a poem is just not salvageable in its original form and a complete rewrite is necessary. But sometimes even a rewrite and restructuring won't save it - perhaps you are attempting something which you aren't yet capable of - and you need to put the piece to one side for a period of time. (I am currently working on a piece I began four years ago!) Meanwhile, the criticism you have received may be applied to other poems. I always keep copies of any written feedback I receive so that I can review it when I go back and revise later.

Learn from critiquing other people's work: if you can give an objective critique of someone else's writing, you are more likely to be able to step back far enough to see your own writing objectively. You'll also learn how much time and effort is put into a thorough critique, and understand why some comments are so valuable. Which brings me on to the last piece of advice: whether you agree with the comments or not, whether you think you can use the advice or not, if you want people to continue to comment on your work, always remember to thank the critic.