I submitted this

Chatterbox: Inkwell

I submitted this

I submitted this poem in a competition and it's moving on to the next level, so I want to find out if a)The judges have very bad taste or b) It's actually good.

Beauty is

Nature's glory has come to pass

Leaves wet from morning dew

Sunsets we know are true

Mist rising from a waterfall

Roses are said to be best of all

The tapping drum of falling rain

Bright colors of a rainbow end the pain

 

Beauty is

The fruits of man's toil have been counted thus

Echoing halls of distant Rome

Smells of the place that we call home

Sunshine's might pouring through the colored glass

Portraits on a wall,reminders of the past

Windows filled with golden light

Artist's sketches of the night

 

But in the end,more beautiful than a singing dove

Is being with the ones you love

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

submitted by Chloe, age 11, CA
(November 26, 2009 - 5:50 pm)

There's a big empty space at the bottom of this page, so I hope I'm not missing any, but I don't think I am. That's fantabulous, Chloe. I'll critique what I can find, but you found the right arrangement of words so that the poem really, really works for you, does exactly what I think you wanted. The majority of your rhymes are impeccable - they actually rhyme (you beat Emily Dickenson there) and most don't feel forced at all. The line "Artist's sketches of the night" made me kind of gasp and get goose bumps. Anywho, here are the problems I found with your poem:

 

1) There are three lines in the first stanza that stand out as weak to me, and all of them related to rhyme. "Sunsets we know are true" is a weak line. There are lots of things that rhyme with dew - you could use anew in that sunsets are made anew every day; renew would work in the same sense.

2) The next weak line is "Roses are said to be best of all." This is stronger than the other weak lines, but it could use work. I think it's the are said that bugs me - two weak, undescriptive words in the same line, followed by to be, which are words that don't actually do anything. It's the words that mean something that make a poem worth reading. You do a good job of this in general - things like night, golden, echo, fruit, drum, mist, glory. I'm having trouble finding a good rhyme that would work, though. Thrall might do, as in roses hold people in thrall. I dunno about that one.

3) The third weak line is "Bright colors of a rainbow end the pain." This line just doesn't seem right. Bright colors isn't a descriptive phrase - that's part of it. The before pain doesn't work well. Try another modifier - a possessive, maybe. 

4) In the line "Smells of the place that we call home" I would change smells to scents. It's a gentler, more positive word. 

5) Lastly, your ending strikes me as weak and cheesy. (sorry) That's pretty harsh criticism, so I'm honor bound to show you what I mean and how I would fix it. That's the hard thing about critiquing - you can't just criticize, you have to try to help. Anyway, weak ending. Let's see what we can do with this. . . . "But in the end, more beautiful than a singing dove / Is being with the ones you love." Ok. Part of the problem is that the singing dove comes out of nowhere. If you had ended your second stanza with a description of a dove's song, it might work better. Don't you dare take out either of your last two lines, though. I love them both. Perhaps more description added onto the end could help, which is why I'm concerned about the big empty space - you may have had more that went missing somehow. :P Or maybe there's just a big empty space. Anyway, try to rework that ending, because leaving the reader with a weak ending is highly detrimental to any poem. 

 

In spite of those five things, this poem is art. Pure and simple. You have a gift, methinks, and you would be remiss not to develop it. Keep writing, and keep entering your poems in contests. It's fun and cool and gives you bragging rights and stuff. :D Yeah. Anywho, fantabulous and all that. Cheers!

 

-EH

 

submitted by Emily H. :D, age 14, Sparks, NV
(November 27, 2009 - 2:17 pm)

Ok, Tiddly-pom and stuff. Fronting here, but under cover. And when I said "Don't you dare take out either of your last two lines, though." I meant the next to last two lines.

 

Cheers,

lavendershy

submitted by lavendershy :) / EH, age 14, Sparks, NV
(December 7, 2009 - 8:48 pm)

Chloe, this is a wonderful poem!!  I have just a few things that could be fixed. 

The first two lines: "Beauty is/ Nature's glory has come to pass" are a bit awkward.  The 'has' in the second line makes this part choppy, but if you took that out, I personally think this would be a lot better. "Beauty is/ Nature's glory come to pass"  Since I agree with things Emily H have said, I won't bother to repeat them here.  

I love your rhymes in this poem!  I have always had a hard time with rhyming, so I'm always filled with awe when I see a good rhyme.  Agreeing with Emily H, the next to the last lines: "Windows filled with golden light/ Artist's sketches of the night" are so descriptive... I get the feeling as golden light is filling inside me.  Your rhymes here are perfect here, too.  

Great job; I hope your poem wins!  For the record, your poem is fantastic; these judges have great taste! :)

~Leaf

submitted by Leaf, age 12 1/2, on a tree!
(December 8, 2009 - 10:49 am)

Not bad!

submitted by Charlotte, age 11, Colorado
(December 8, 2009 - 11:16 am)