A very witty friend of mine once compared writing poetry to masturbation. It’s true, she said, that everybody does it, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of: but for most people it’s nothing to be particularly proud of either. A few virtuosos may do it so well that they can actually build an audience for themselves, and make a bit of money, but it will never be a stable career path. And while, in the context of an intimate relationship, a loved one may ask to see it, for the most part you should keep it to yourself and not try to show it to friends or strangers.
It is much easier to improve your writing if you let others point out potential mistakes in your poems or inspire different approaches. Which isn’t unlike with masturbation, I guess.
I agree that writing good poetry is hard—I gave up at the “gain high social status among elite arbiters of poetry” stage.
But what does your article have to do with writing poetry? Did you mean pre-1900 poetry?
A very witty friend of mine once compared writing poetry to masturbation. It’s true, she said, that everybody does it, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of: but for most people it’s nothing to be particularly proud of either. A few virtuosos may do it so well that they can actually build an audience for themselves, and make a bit of money, but it will never be a stable career path. And while, in the context of an intimate relationship, a loved one may ask to see it, for the most part you should keep it to yourself and not try to show it to friends or strangers.
It is much easier to improve your writing if you let others point out potential mistakes in your poems or inspire different approaches. Which isn’t unlike with masturbation, I guess.