Intention and Critique

[ellajam]

Because I want to write a poem about a grape, not an orange. The critique is for the poet, not the person giving the critique. It doesn't affect the poems merits as a poem about oranges, but if the author wants to write a poem about grapes, they should get advice on writing a grape poem, not an orange one.

but, surely, what ellla is saying is that a critique based on such a fundamental misapprehension of authorial intent would lead to positive results in editing, anyway.

perhaps.

It's bizarre when someone comes at my poem from such a different place than where I was aiming, but it can be like turning the gem and trying to polish every facet. It's great when it's clear that a reader/critic really gets it, exactly, but in my case that doesn't happen all that often. Still, each crit, with very few exceptions, is useful.