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CRITICISM

The next article is an excerption of the book "The Poet's Dictionary. A Handbook of Prosody and Poetic Devices", 1989, by William Pakkard, Founder and editor of The New York Quaterly, proffessor of poetry of New York University.

CRITICISM

The art of evaluation, judgment, or analysis of a literary work.
The following is a checklist of technical points that pertain to any poem, giving
specific points one can question, step by step, in the attempt to criticize by description.
The checklist is more practical than theoretical. All of the techniques cited are found elsewhere in this dictionary.

OPENING OF POEM:
Is poem titled or untitled?
Does title seem apt? Does poem have strong enough opening?
Do first few lines establish appropriate tone?
Would any later part of poem make a better opening?

SIGHT DEVICES:
Are there enough specific image details in poem?
Are the metaphors and similes apt?
Do any figures or conceits need further development?
Are any sections of poem weak in visual images?

SOUND DEVICES:
Is there any strong assonance-vowel sounds?
Is there any strong alliteration-consonant sounds?
Any problem with scansion of rhythm in poem?
Anything special about texture of sound in poem?

SENSE DEVICES:
What is voice or persona or point of view in poem?
Is diction consistent? Any odd word choices?
Is syntax appropriate? Sentence structuring?
What is totality of tone in poem?

CLOSURE OF POEM:
Do last few lines seem right for ending of poem?
Does the closure seem artificial or overwritten?
Could poet get out of poem in any better way?
Should poem be left suspended, with no closure?

PLACEMENT ON PAGE:
Do the line breaks seem right? Enjambements?
Does poem have left?hand capitals? Why? Or why not?
Can any punctuation in poem be stripped away?
Could line placements be arranged in any better way?

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS:
Can this poem be tightened in any way?
Is there any rhetoric, generality, abstract words?
Could any parts of poem be developed more?
More proper names, place names, concrete particulars?

The chief virtue of this checklist is that it tries to cover the entire range of technical considerations that go into the making of a poem.

But as we said at the outset, this checklist is simply meant as a practi guide to arrive at an objective description of what is already there on page. To be sure, the answers to the various questions on the checklist require considerable critical judgment and deliberate choices on the part the poet or reader or whoever is trying to apply the checklist to any paltici poem. But that's all a part of the training one has to go through to be a to see what kind of a poem one is trying to describe.

And as we said, the best criticism is always description.

© 2001 Elena and Yacov Feldman