Intention and Critique

[Lizzie]

in my own rather crude and trite opinion, it’s all a big lumbering living organism with a plexus of nerves and capillary veins clumsily arranged and plugged in to keep it going. sometimes the pendulum swing is towards territorialisation and stratification based on pre-formed structures; other times to destratification and nomadic wandering. the pendulum is rarely ever stopped in its tracks.

Agreed. It's a golem of a beast. True story.

---

The arguments they make are persuasive. Outside of these forums, intent is a sunk cost. So, they are correct, it does not matter.

However, if you are offering critique of a poem, then, intent does matter to a certain extent because the author has a certain message they desire to convey and part of critique is commenting on how a well a message or the message is conveyed. You are critiquing for the author. I think that changes things a little bit.

Understanding the authors intent does not add or detract from literature's merit, but it can help you offer a more relevant critique.

Isn't the best critique one that's freed from what the author thinks you should see in the poem and from what others have seen? There's a reason that we're admonished to not write little blurbs about the poem's intent/meaning in the original post; there's a reason that many choose to not read any of the other comments before submitting their critique so that the read is not influenced or biased in any other direction. So, if you're not reading anything but the poem before you critique, how is authorial intent relevant?

Maybe intent matters more in the early stages of writing, before the poem starts smoking, wearing eye liner, and sneaking out at night....