Mark Steven Scheffer's E-Mail Address: msscheffer@mac.com
Mark's Personal Web Page or Favorite Web Page: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/EtinArcadiaEgo

So far 709 People have Entered a Personal Profile on The Poetic Link! Click Here to see the rest of them or to Add your Own Personal Profile Now!

Below you will see ALL of the Critiques that Mark Steven Scheffer has given on The Poetic Link.
By Clicking a Poem Title, you can view the poem that is associated with each Critique.

If you would like to view all of Mark Steven Scheffer's Poetry just Click Here.

Click HERE to return to ThePoeticLink.com Database Page!

Poem Title	Poet Name	Critique Given by Mark Steven Scheffer	Critique Date
Once Upon His Desuetude Rode He Into Town	Thomas Edward Wright	TEW, Word can't express how good it is to have you back here. Things have changed. We're trimmer, leaner . . . we have less body fat now. Everyone still standing here appreciates your talent, and you won't have to put up with crap anymore. You can sniff and sniff and sniff and I defy you to find a pile in any corner of this place now. Speaking of now, as to this poem . . . I liked that line. I vaguely remember it, but would have to look up the poem. I probably burned it and cast it off into space . . . or it's buried at the plume. My treasure island. Desuetude? Ciborium? I hate it when you take up your axe against the ancient faith. I can feel my spine going to shivers. It was nice to appear with you in a segment of Twin Peaks. If only we had a script . . . we could have been sumthin'. Contenders even. MSS	2010-01-17 17:01:23
To Untangle the Tangled	James C. Horak	JCH, I think on these things this way: it's almost like the nature of criminal law, or legitimate warfare. As to what is in the making, I just don't know for sure. Just as I might have a child molester living next to me . . . I just don't know. Precision and truth waits for the crime to be committed, and acts justly thereafter. It cannot be otherwise, unfortunately. I am suspicious of preemptive strikes, whether by neocons or those who "see" the beast slouching toward Bethlehem. I gotta wait for the arrival in Bethlehem. Of course, it could just be a failure in information gathering on my part. Perhaps the beast can be "seen" by those with eyes to see. Then again, those "seeing" eyes have done a lot of damage in the world with their preemptive strikes - on the one hand, we have no mass weapons of destruction. The fact that the preemptive strikes of those in power are more dangerous because, well, they can realize responses to their "fears" - this is obvious, and noted. But we're dealing with poetry, truth. And a similar fallacy on the other side does not become less fallacious because less dangerous. You won't like this answer, but it's honest. In my gut I "see" the NWO slouching toward Bethlehem, and I'm opposed to the beast. I'm certainly not one poised to benefit - they work for big law firms, and are not solo practitioners like me, standing with my client and our sling shots as the behemoth moves to crush us. But I also "know myself," and how prone to deception and error I am. Maybe I have to wait until it hits me before I strike back. Yes, that may be too late, but it's what truth requires I think. My clients get screwed, and then I fight with them to try to make it right. BTW, I found nothing about the poem extreme. If your premise is right - and again, I'm prone to agree and not rejecting the premise - nothing you say could be too extreme. MSS MSS	2010-01-17 07:53:34
A Gracious Good Year	Gene Dixon	Peace, always peace from Mr. Dixon. :) Happy New Year, BFB!!!	2010-01-13 19:08:06
Please Read:	James C. Horak	JCH, If this place rose or fell based upon your resolve and will, it would be soaring. Good luck with this, my friend. And may the Lord smile on your efforts. MSS	2010-01-13 19:06:11
At Critical Mass	Mark Andrew Hislop	MAH, I can see your recent reading of Crane. Yet I feel something's off. This is you trying on a new pair of shoes. Not a great fit at the moment, but them shoes are leather, and the road waits for them. But is has the marks of a first rate poet all over it. In these days, that is more than enough. Sharpen that quill for both of us . . . mine's duller and rounder than a pickle's end. MSS	2010-01-13 19:04:27
My August Votes	Duane J Jackson	Duane, This seems like centuries ago. It was quite a month; I feel liked I aged twenty years . . . or got twenty years younger. This seems like ancient history. Keep up the good work. MSS	2009-10-06 23:02:07
Votes For August	DeniMari Z.	Deni, MAH doesn't think we should crit these things. I dunno . . . but when I hit my skip critiquing button (using Firefox), it didn't work: the bloody thing kept showing up. Which works for me: I get four points and don't have to crit at all. MAH should get a life. :) Peace, MSS	2009-10-06 23:00:18
Careful	Mark Andrew Hislop	MAH, Thank you. Put 4 more in the barrel. Bless your prolificity. My wit must be asleep: you and Deni are cutting circles around me this afternoon. MSS	2009-10-06 17:29:00
Secret Love Letter	DeniMari Z.	Deni, Love the ending. "Unaided" and "aimless" . . . after that last poem, and now this, I feel like your watching me. :) MSS	2009-10-06 17:25:56
Court - Summons & Complaints	DeniMari Z.	Deni, Hmmm. You've unsuited this lawyer. This is allegorical without animals - but I feel a swishing tail and inching whiskers - and I'm not sure why. MSS	2009-10-06 17:23:13
Beachcombing	Mark Andrew Hislop	MAH, You basically threw this away in a dust bin? Geez, what else do you have there? This is wondrous. I will write this crit from the glow of the effect, which is marvelous. The language luxuriates into a world one could live in for a day, a month, a year. I don't have a fucking clue what this means at the moment, since I am dazzled in light. Content not to ask what a sunset means, this poem leaves me in the same state of contentment and awe. Wow. I pay back your compliment to my fisherman poem. Not out of gratitude - I'm as ingracious as the snake of Eden - but out of merit. I can't want to feast on this awhile and try to get a sense of what the friggin' thing means. :) Fantastic poem, mate. MSS	2009-10-06 11:27:26
Blood	James C. Horak	JCH, The reason I like this so much is that it is a departure for you of sorts. From the very elemental, simple and direct title, "Blood," down through the simplicity of diction, this poem is a movement away from "formal" complexity, one of your tendencies. Some chant "simplicity" like a mantra . . . and I don't want to be confused with such. A less contrived (and I don't mean that in a bad way, but in the sense of "fashioned") mode of expression, such as you've utilized in this poem, can only serve you well in the future. And that is the only reason I am hitting on simplicity. Many great poems are complex formally speaking, and many are simple formally speaking. The call to "simplify, simplify, simplify" can kill as many poems and poets as a tendency to too much baroque complexity. Simple is good for this poem and as an exercise for you, the poet you are. The theme of this poem strikes me personally, for various reasons . . . which you, my friend and astute critic, know very well. A very important theme, and a good poem on it that reverberates for me. MSS	2009-09-28 16:58:25
Two views of dna	Mark Andrew Hislop	MAH, Like the repetition of "Samuel." Like the DNA-like structure. Not being very scientific, the allusion (and I'm sure you're making some allusions) and therefore some of the power of this is beyond me. I sense I dimension to this that is beyond my powers of perception. But what I do perceive I like. MSS	2009-09-18 12:20:28
The Night Sky	Mark Andrew Hislop	MAH, Solid. I love powerful metaphor, and look to that in top shelf stuff. Along with that intangible, "atmosphere." "Arrow," and this one, have both. Starting to hit your stride I'd say. Now it's just a matter of covering the ground. MSS	2009-09-18 12:17:16
The Tree	Mark Andrew Hislop	MAH It always comes back to a damn tree, doesn't it? Strange fuse our minds are. Nice fairy tale quality to this. MSS	2009-09-15 22:22:06
The Tag Along	James C. Horak	JCH, Unmomentary - very nice. "Forgiving the shadows of mine own / self-disdain." A powerful line even more enhanced in light of what preceded: "that my presence might stay." "Do we deserve the object of our passions?" Not moment to moment. But Lincolnessly: part of the time yes, part of the time no. And that's largely because the object of our passions is likewise moment to moment. MSS	2009-09-15 22:17:10
To Withstand the Storm	Dellena Rovito	Dellena, Wonderful message. I find this poem very uplifting. Thanks. MSS	2009-09-15 22:01:02
The Arrow	Mark Andrew Hislop	MAH, This will be the one I vote for. But I ain't telling you where. :) I said the other had "publication" written all over it. And you know I do not necessarily consider that a virtue. The arrow/crossbow analogy is superb. As is the original idea of the arrow arriving at your door. And poems as complete entities communicate an intangible essence, a being . . . and this one does that. The poem has the most "presence" of any posted this month. You know me, I like "presence" and "atmosphere." JCH has one for depth, like a well, another put together with great precision, and Duane has one as sharp as a stiletto . . . but this one has "presence." What to do? You'll find out. But I suspect that you'll post something soon even better than this 'cause . . . I suspect the last few drops of dirty oil have been drained, and now you're starting to purr a bit, real smooth like. MSS	2009-09-11 22:49:29
Sex Fed and Tick Happy	James C. Horak	JCH, How fittingly you end on the word "depth." One of your trademarks. Dirty dinner plate . . . nice. Ah yes, Woeman. Truth incarnated. God's last work, his Ninth Symphony (gulp). The gift of the sublime . . . and the other side of the coin. If depth of thought and microscopic penetration of something were the sole criteria, or the highest - and maybe it is - you get the laurel. Of course. Of course, as others may point out - these types of poems from you always generate an explosion or two - you're probably committing some grave offense here. I'm either too stupid or too smart to see it. And now you've got me . . . thinking. Or course, of course, of course. MSS	2009-09-11 17:50:45
Twisted Rules of Life	DeniMari Z.	Deni, Like that tactile "palms." Your poet is asserting herself. Thumbs up. MSS	2009-09-11 17:35:05
Northumberland Road	Mark Andrew Hislop	MAH, This has publication written all over it. Submit it somewhere. It's a lock. MSS	2009-09-11 17:30:12
Mater	Mark Andrew Hislop	MAH, Well . . . you have me breathless for the sequel, "Pater." Another son, MSS PS - did you mean "quickening"? Personally I think you meant "dicking" . . . as in, "he's dicking me over." Or is that too American?	2009-09-11 17:26:37
The Flame	Mark Andrew Hislop	MAH, One of the things I read in my readings of Harold Bloom. He said he was taught by one of his teachers to ask, upon reading a poem, "what is the person trying to do for himself or herself, as a person, by writing this poem?" Bloom altered that to, "what is the person trying to do for himself or herself as a poet by writing the poem?" I haven't paid attention to those guidelines in either reading or writing, but I think I should. In your poetry you are often trying to do something for yourself as a person by writing your poems. This is very commendable, and something I think we can all profit from by watching you do it. I don't know the answer as to what you are trying to do for yourself in this poem, but it's palpable that you are doing something. I just wanted to make that observation, and I'm not going to hazard any comments on exactly what you're trying to do for yourself, but I will think about that question as I think about your poem. You make poetry alive and very, very meaningful. Almost belying, yes, in fact belying, your lament of "what's the significance of this poeming stuff" by your own example. As to Bloom's variation of the question, this is where I think you get confused or lost. It's as if you are so preoccupied with your demons that you forget that you are a poet and that each poem is more than you doing something for yourself as a person, it's also you doing something for yourself as a poet. Approach each poem as an opportunity for yourself as A POET as well as as a person. What do you want this adventure into this particular poem to do for you as a poet? Perhaps you are trying to do something for yourself as a poet here: strip language down into a direct simplicity. Well, that's fine, but in my view the language is too direct and simple. The "olympic flame" metaphor and the "disguise" metaphor - as with the idea of "penance" - does not create the artifice necessary to sustain this as a poem worth handling and taking possession of, for me as a reader. Plainness and passion, simplicity, are all virtues. But a poem has to create enough illusion, has to have enough artifice, to give it a distinction that makes it art, something different than the passion itself, a sublimation of it into that beautiful thing called a poem. To me this one doesn't do that. One can err both ways: too much artifice, or too much stripping away of NECESSARY artifice. The latter is a fault I fall victim to often. Hey, as you remarked, it ain't easy, this trying to make good poems. And that's one of the reasons why we're here, trying to help each other make good poems. So, you're a shining example to me and a model as to a vital question which I should keep in my mind as a poet: what do I want the writing of this poem to do for me as a person? You excel at this. But don't lose the jewel of artifice, the things that makes the art different from the raw inspiration and passion. Don't lose sight of the body that the soul must take. For a poet, it is that body which they will be judged by ultimately: the poem they create. And of course, if it's all artifice, then you have a body without soul, just a shell. Let's drink to, and pursue and ultimately find, the vital balance, my friend. MSS	2009-09-09 13:15:36
Poetry	Mark Andrew Hislop	MAH, I know the place from which this comes . . . fight it. Never change a thing? No. No. NO!!!! Never change a thing . . . by whose standards? Some politician's? Some idiot lawyers (grin)? Some selfish, bloated materialists? Don't judge by false standards. Suppose someone were to tell you that, 60, 70 years from now someone somewhere would discover your poetry and be set on fire by it? That they would fall in love with you and carry your words around in their heart, and that you'd inspire them to live a fuller life? Just one person. A sensitive, imaginative human being who would probably be a poet themselves. I wager you wouldn't say, "never change a thing." Shit, you're just down on yourself and your poetry. Don't lose the faith. This too will pass . . . this damn doubt and self-defeatism. Even if it doesn't pass, die fighting it. It's because of your doubts that you will rise to higher levels. Christ, you're my semblable, and I'm yours. You scare the shit out of me. MSS	2009-09-08 16:58:17
Tearing Persuasion	James C. Horak	JCH, Twinking? A coinage? Twinkie is an interesting word, I've just discovered - after you sent me to the dictionary. I love the economy recently from you. Very terse, and mysterious. Right up my alley - though I haven't been very terse lately. :) Also like the diction. Great word choice throughout, especially "harpers" and "allure," and that "twinking." Pun in the title too. Somewhat hidden rhyme ("go" and "so") . . . Well-crafted and inspired. MSS	2009-09-08 16:48:41
The tall ships	Mark Andrew Hislop	MAH, It's good to have you back. This has all the Hislop qualities: the raw pain, emotion, the heart on the sleeve. The sustained universe of consistent metaphor. Very Shelleyean, like the Bay of Leirici (sp?) poem of his - all of this is a very good thing. I get the feeling though that this is you getting your sea legs back. You're just saying "how do ya do" to the sea again, just warming up. Let's go whaling, shall we? Did i say it was nice to have you back? MSS	2009-09-01 16:54:16
Yoyo	Dellena Rovito	Dellena, This yoyo is alive, a little demigod. The yoyo owns this poem, but you take it away from him in the last stanza. You had me becoming a devote of him, so I want you to give the poem back to him, and let HIM end it. As with your porcupine poem, I think you are a very good at giving life to things outside you. In your porcupine poem you insert yourself - if I remember correctly - but your presence is defined by its relation to the porcupine. The distance of the simile ("like this simple toy") takes your yoyo out of the poem, unlike your porcupine. As I said, I'd give it back to him, or at least give him equal stature at the end. This is more of a specific comment on the write then I usually want to get into, but I make it because I think it highlights and helps focus on what I see as your strength: giving presence and power to what is outside of you, while retaining the necessary you, without which what is outside doesn't mean a damn thing. MSS	2009-09-01 16:46:16
View In Your Eyes	DeniMari Z.	Deni, Ah, here your heart speaks in a childlike voice. This poem is more sustained in its effectiveness, because the heart is the natural home. For some reason, the multiplicity of that "we" and the collective voice you invoke - it reminds me of Plath's poem about mushrooms, mushrooms spawning in abundance, like the meek overtaking the earth. Now I've a hankering to go back and read that poem - thanks. The poem, on the whole, is very unified; its voice sustained. Return to this place, and listen some more. MSS	2009-09-01 16:14:09
U.S. Hell Is Where Some Dwell	DeniMari Z.	Deni, You have a great core here: the pun of "change" and "green." I sense a battle between the poet in you and the person who wants to cry out commentary, without metaphor or the artifice of poetry. As I said, you have an interesting concept for the effectively sustained artifice of poetry, and I think you should rework the poem to go with that idea and work your statement in more poetically. MSS	2009-09-01 14:56:11
Jester of Life	DeniMari Z.	Deni, Permit me to ramble a bit about critiquing here. Wherein lies the value of a critique? I've never found it to be in line by line exegesis or commentary. When someone whose voice I respect tells me "this works," or "this doesn't," in those general terms, that's the best type of critique for me. Because that gives me something, a poem of mine, which came from inside me, and returns me to that same source, so that I can excise the spot (if it came from a region that "didn't work"), or locate it for a successful return (if it came from a region that "worked"). The line by line critique rewrites your poem for you, but doesn't direct you inside, where you need to be to produce poems of value. It's like polishing a statue. But statues don't make poems, poets do. I never want people to polish my statues, but help me to write better poems, and help direct me to the space, inside, where I can find them. Your moving into a complexity of image, metaphor, language cluster which is good. It will make you a stronger poet. It will give you another register you can call on to capture what you need, want to say, when necessary. Right now your poem is overburdened with it (this higher, complex register), but most poems are merely a step to another. This is a good step. Keep moving in this direction. It is movement on the path of conquest. MSS	2009-09-01 12:33:58
Unsettled	James C. Horak	JCH, Has the feel of precision, like a watchmaker made it with great care. Welcome back from your brief vacation. MSS	2009-08-29 00:37:18
Too Late To Learn	DeniMari Z.	Deni, Using the cultural matrix: Lennon's "All you need is love." Very good. Like the sudden emergence of such a defined metaphor, "ships," in the sea of abstraction, though subtly introduced by "docked." Content is very important in poetry. If you don't have something to say, who cares? I note that because my comments are limited to form, to let you know I'm not depreciating the more important category of content, and in no why to imply you're not giving a lot of content lately. Indeed, you are. Another good poem. Mark	2009-08-11 12:29:50
Peer Pressure	DeniMari Z.	Deni, Fascinating poem. Just love that first line - wow, what a grabber! Then a great last line, always very important to leave the reader in a state of excitation. A little entanglement in the syntax at some points in between. But since form must be a vehicle for meaning, or should in a good poem - I wouldn't change it. The poem sort of explodes into the more classical syntax and rhythm of the last line. Nice. Mark	2009-08-11 12:22:02
The Squatter	Dellena Rovito	Dellena, This one leaps out to me above your more recent offerings. Perhaps the brevity of the structure causes you to concentrate your imagery and let that speak rather than your point. Power, power, power. Presence. Something modern poetry shuns in the great levelling, when everyone's a bard! This has power and presence. And not in small part because it pays no heed to the powers that be - in terms of how to compose. I like this: you and that possum on a adventure into your soul. Very good, Dellena. MSS	2009-06-27 11:02:46
It Could Have Rained Yesterday	James C. Horak	JCH, Can't recall any sudden joys of an aural nature upon reading in my recent past similar to that that struck me with "ivory" and "worn." Superb. That third stanza is quite ominous and powerful. I also love the "empty bags filled with / continuum alone." Superb also. I recently made an observation of a felt kinship between your style and that of, say, a poet like Herrick. This just confirms it, though it is "quieter" in its intelligence. Having said all of those nice things, I found this too much of a "mind" poem to be truly memorable. This may be a fault both you and I share - and I think you recently expressed that - something in the nature of being too cerebral. But that is criticism going to intangibles. Can't really fault anything here, and those superb touches reverberate and will last in my impression. MSS	2009-06-27 10:54:03
Cracks in the Tile and Suicides	James C. Horak	JCH, This poem makes me think, fittingly, about the exchange between the poet and the reader. Is that like the exchange between the survivor reflecting on the suicide who made the leap? For example, I read into your "brisk wind" from my experiences and feelings. Or do I? And is the poem we read "not about us"? If this poem springs from mere - and I do not say "mere" out of diminishment of the occasion - thought of those who have taken their lives, and how they could have been different only if . . . it is nonetheless graced by other considerations that an intelligent spirit loads into it. I think you are saying it is NOT a trip without a road . . . though it sometimes is reduced to the cracks in the tile that trip one up. You load the syntax here with rich ore. Very deep - but of course! MSS	2009-06-16 19:28:06
Sub T' Abuse	DeniMari Z.	Deni, High points from the standpoint of form: the alliteration in the first line. Superb construction in "the tree to wrap thoughts around / tries to bear fruit less trouble-free." Great use of allusion there to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This subject, drugs, makes that allusion spot on and just wonderful. Just lots of rich texturing going on here: e.g., the assonance in "lucid" and "unglued." On the level of intangible, something missing for me to put this poem over the top. Not sure what that is, or I'd describe it to you. MSS	2009-06-14 08:33:32
My Votes for May	James C. Horak	JCH, MSS shows the road wherever he happens to be on the itinerary. The road usually swerves suddenly and tends to go back upon itself. Only the Shadow knows. Had I voted, it'd have been yours and Duane's in the top two slots. No quibbles here. I thought "Ne'er Paragon" should be higher. I look more for voice, character - Deni's comes across. To me, that is more than "tightly rendered." MSS	2009-06-09 09:17:04
My May Votes	Duane J Jackson	Duane, I like your top three. Pretty solid selections. Onward to June! MSS	2009-06-09 09:08:33
May's vote	Dellena Rovito	Dellena, You and I liked Cell. I will forgive you, therefore, for liking the Goat more. Let June be stupendous! Thanks for your vote, MSS	2009-06-09 09:06:06
My Votes For Poems in Order	DeniMari Z.	Deni, The Goat Man is hiding behind his tree. He knows I want to bury him. I hope I'm guiding you in a vehicle with seat belts. MSS	2009-06-09 09:04:03
Darkened Times	James C. Horak	JCH, Nice metaphor from the collector. Nice play of rhyme, no rhyme. I like especially "piercing stroke." Very nice. A quatrain precision reminiscent of Herrick and that crowd. Becoming a bit of a signature voice for you. Very good. MSS	2009-06-09 09:02:37
Char-Cold	DeniMari Z.	Deni, The most difficult balance to achieve is the one between thought and inspiration. That is a constant battle whose perfection is the key to the highest level of achievement I think. It is something we must all work at. I tend to find that the best poems, those worth remembering, come from inspiration. You then rework them to give make them stronger in "thought," but must resist the temptation to make them too rational. That kills the breath of the Spirit, the inspiration. The consent and approbation of the rational mind, and serving that, kills too many poems for me. One can sense here a powerful inspiration. But I think in rewriting your rational mind did a little too much working over of the original inspiration. That may be a personal preference of mine which you might want to ignore. Test it for yourself and see. The poem comes highly praised, and I think it is very good. One of your best, but I'd have to go back and look at some others i like very much before saying, "your best." Again, a pleasure to see such leaps and bounds in the growth of your poetry. MSS	2009-06-08 10:18:35
Regal Anger	DeniMari Z.	DeniMari, One can see the dramatic growth in your voice. Wonderful. Keep things going. MSS	2009-06-08 10:09:06
Ne'er Paragon _/Revision W/Spelling Corrections	DeniMari Z.	Deni, Nice flight here: Vexed dander’s in violin music Screeching to the highest pinnacle. But I'm not understanding "dander's" as possessive. You just mean the plural of "dander," right? Really splendid poem that goes on my list. See if I can get some "weight." MSS	2009-06-02 16:23:49
Please Just Read	James C. Horak	JCH, Great post, even if not a poem. The suggestion of visiting a wounded vet strikes a core. It is right out of the seven corporal works of mercy, with the timely addition of veteran on Memorial Day. Timely, charitable, and wise. MSS	2009-06-02 16:07:25
A Perspective	Dellena Rovito	Dellena, My favorite of yours, "Midwinter's Dream," is unfortunately down on my list. If I don't get there to critique, I will be here to vote for it. As for this one, it has the power of your voice, which is becoming common here - to our betterment. MSS	2009-02-05 13:39:51
My Vote for December	Dellena Rovito	Thanks, Dellena, for your vote. Can't really quibble with it except for that Scheffer guy. :)	2009-02-05 13:33:14
Regard	Regis L Chapman	Regis, I love to see this foray into rhyme and a more formal structure from you. I told you that form must come from within you and grow out into your poetry. What is within you is the seed. Seed needs soil to grow things - that would be the tools of the poetry trade, rhyme, meter, figures of speech, imagery, etc. A lot of things go into making good soil, a lot of giving from things that went before. Your "soil" will be the tools of the trade and you get those tools from the poets who were before you; you should really think of them as your soil. Unfortunately you can't just buy a bag, put in your seed, and start growing wonderful poems. You have to work through the soil. If you think I write ok, and can serve as a model, I'll use myself as an example. When I started getting serious about writing poetry, about when I started posting here almost 9 years ago now, I was learning how to write iambic pentameter by working through Shakespeare's Sonnets. Helen Vendler has a fantastic edition with her great insights as to formal and rhetorical structure. Stephen Booth has a great edition with his insight into Shakespearean punning and word play. The Arden edition, edited by Katherine Duncan-Jones, is wonderfully typeset and a great primary source with explanatory notes on the opposite page as to difficult words, allusions, etc. I'd read the sonnet in the Arden edition and then Vendler and then Booth - sonnet by sonnet by sonnet. And I wrote tons of sonnets until I had fairly absorbed the Shakespearean way. And then I went on to other poets I admire, and essentially live with their work. This is no shortcut to getting the soil for your seed. So I am thrilled to see you "go formal." You won't need to stay "formal." But you may find it congenial. In any event, when you find your style and voice somewhere along this road, you will have an abundance of soil at hand to grow your poetry, and you will be inside the formal pyrotechnics that seem so outside to you now. And you will begin to own them, and find them as natural to you as, well . . . the soil of earth. But there's no easy way, no magic formula. It's great to see you grappling with "form."Some nice stuff, here, too. MSS	2009-02-05 13:28:55
My December Votes	Duane J Jackson	Duane, I appreciate the vote, and your efforts at the site. Mark	2009-02-05 13:06:14
Poem Title	Poet Name	Critique Given by Mark Steven Scheffer	Critique Date

Displaying Critiques 101 to 150 out of 495 Total Critiques.
Click one of the following to display the: First 50 ... Next 50 ... Previous 50 ... Last 50 Critiques.

If you would like to view all of Mark Steven Scheffer's Poetry just Click Here.

Click HERE to return to ThePoeticLink.com Database Page!