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dustingforsugar October 26 2009, 21:44:07 UTC
tonks17 makes some good points and I would definitely pay attention to her pearls of wisdom if I were you. However, I'm going to add my own two cents here as well.

First off, I think it is great that you have an interest in poetry! It seems hardly anyone does sometimes. Personally, I have written poetry for quite some time. Although, I only write on personal subjects, and for myself, not for fandom. Poetry is definitely a hard medium and takes a long time to master, but as long as you had fun writing it, I would say that is a good start.

I am too going to assume you're in high school, from what you said about English class and so on. I'm also assuming you don't know much about metre or anything like that yet. The technical aspects of poetry can be difficult to understand at first, but they are definitely worth investigating because they will improve your writing no end. I already see in several places you have experimented (either knowingly or unknowingly) with the way the lines 'sound', and in my mind that shows some creativity, which can only be a good thing. Sometimes poets spend months, or even years, perfecting the way their poems flow and sound, so don't be afraid to reread, revise and rework. Although, I think your effort was pretty good considering that you're new to the medium.

One way to improve your poetry is to read more poetry! I know in high school I was bonkers about Alfred, Lord Tennyson (which is why I inwardly cry whenever someone in this fandom spells Tennyson wrongly), Marvell, Donne, Plath and Carol Ann Duffy. There was a time I could have sworn I was Mariana in her moated grange, ha! Perhaps you already have some favourites of your own?

Also, tonks17 has a good point about mixing fandom and real life. If any of your stuff is also a school assignment, there is the possibility a teacher or classmate could find it here. If you're happy enough to shout from the rooftops exactly what you posted and where you posted it, then good for you. If not, well, you know...

Best of luck with your future endeavours :) I hope you don't find yourself too discouraged by anything I have said.

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witdemechpencil November 3 2009, 18:43:33 UTC
I do realize that she did make some very good points that I will definitely learn from.
I do know tons upon tons about poetry, but (as I stated in my previous comment) at this point I was stressed out and depressed and had no patience for going through and revising, as my perfectionism most likely would have caused a break down (if I don't get things perfect, I freak out).
And I'm very sorry if I didn't make this point clear, but I was excused from the class assignment, had some free time during class, and wrote this. I never turned it in as an assignment.
So I'm taking a short break to recover from my recent sickness and try to deal with my grades and perfectionism (you should have seen me when I got my progress report of straight F's. Thankfully I have brought all my grades back up and now am on the A/B honor roll). I hope to see you again when I come back, hopefully with some of my better writing from my notebooks that are, unfortunately, in storage right now.
Thank you for your advice, and I was not discouraged. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and I am very obviously not dead and a great deal stronger thanks to the advice of tonks17 and you.

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