07-04-2016, 10:36 PM
Lizzie, thank you for your measured response to this suggestion. Your assertion that your writing is yours and not the critic's is absolutely correct and enshrined in our critiquing guidelines.
I have seen an increasing number of comments demanding attention to what is often called a 'rule' but is, at the end of the day, no more than a stylistic choice or adherence to a different school of writing. Sometimes, in fact, it has been pure wrongheaded pedantry. For example, I've lost count of the number of times an American has tried to insistently correct my British English spelling or even the date format.
While a critique is a courtesy for which we should be grateful, it is also a courtesy to post your poems for the enjoyment of others. Neither poet nor critic has the right to make demands of the other.
I have seen an increasing number of comments demanding attention to what is often called a 'rule' but is, at the end of the day, no more than a stylistic choice or adherence to a different school of writing. Sometimes, in fact, it has been pure wrongheaded pedantry. For example, I've lost count of the number of times an American has tried to insistently correct my British English spelling or even the date format.
While a critique is a courtesy for which we should be grateful, it is also a courtesy to post your poems for the enjoyment of others. Neither poet nor critic has the right to make demands of the other.
It could be worse