7 hours ago
Hello
I think it is obvious you need to be a good reader to be a good writer. I would even suggest someone not bothering to write until they are a good reader. But, what about the converse - do you need to be a good writer to offer valid critique.
I learned poetry mostly through online workshops and forums where the mantra has long been:
- Everyone has something to offer in comments regardless of whether they are a good writer.
Now part of this approach, of course, is to combat the anemic response on forums filled with poets eager to post their poems and talk about those. Part of it might be the egalitarian viewpoint that everyone has something to offer or possibly that a great writer could offer great critique even though they lask the talent to be a good writer.
Ezra Pound famously said:
" Pay no attention to the criticism of men who have never themselves written a notable work. Consider the discrepancies between the actual writing of the Greek poets and dramatists, and the theories of the Graeco-Roman grammarians, concocted to explain their metres."
What are your thoughts?
I think it is obvious you need to be a good reader to be a good writer. I would even suggest someone not bothering to write until they are a good reader. But, what about the converse - do you need to be a good writer to offer valid critique.
I learned poetry mostly through online workshops and forums where the mantra has long been:
- Everyone has something to offer in comments regardless of whether they are a good writer.
Now part of this approach, of course, is to combat the anemic response on forums filled with poets eager to post their poems and talk about those. Part of it might be the egalitarian viewpoint that everyone has something to offer or possibly that a great writer could offer great critique even though they lask the talent to be a good writer.
Ezra Pound famously said:
" Pay no attention to the criticism of men who have never themselves written a notable work. Consider the discrepancies between the actual writing of the Greek poets and dramatists, and the theories of the Graeco-Roman grammarians, concocted to explain their metres."
What are your thoughts?