Is personal poetry bad in your opinion?

[taja b]

When I say personal poetry, I mean poetry that focuses on the writer who wrote the poem. But, as I was reading answers on here lately, some people think that personal poetry is egotistic and pretentious. I can see what they are talking about(with emo poetry and all), but still, I see absolutely nothing wrong with a person writing a poem about theirselves sometimes-as long as it is good.

So, do you agree or disagree that personal poetry is bad?

[Jeff L]

I cede this one to Pugilist. There is only one criterion for any art. Is it good or not?

[Pugilist]

Personal poetry is not, in itself, bad, but personal poetry trends badly.

This is because people get so stuck on how it feels to them it is more therapy than poetry, which is fine until they present it as poetry and then get upset when it is held to the same standards.

Look at the art of Fredia. It's intensely personal but is still great art. You can present personal pain, strife, happiness, etc and still adhere to good poetical forms. You just have to be willing to actually work at it, which is a step most personal poetry refuses to consider.

And that's what makes it insipid and horrid.

[Alobar]

You have to decide--subjectively--if your poem is a poem or a bowel movement. Bowel movements are great, needed, satisfying, etc, but nobody wants to look at them. Poems are flowers, rainbows and starry skies; dances with death, paintings of hearts. Poems are to be shared, bowel movements flushed away.

[? bReEzy ™]

It depends on how personal it is. A person's poetry shouldn't be too personal.

[purple_waatermelon13]

???!!! of course it´s not bad!!
I find the personal poems much better , than let´s say some rich girl writing about poverty in africa.
imagine paris hilton writing about some kind of topic like that??
You know nothing better than yourself, so writing about yurself is probably one of the easiest things to do. but also one of the hardest


or what do you mean exactly? I dont think personal poetry is bad at all. you have to be able to express yourself. let emotions out , u know? you can only do that with your feelings. and for some people , words are the only way they can truely express themselves

[Evadne Terra]

It all depends. A great deal of the time personal poetry does seem pretentious or egotistic, espeically if the author thinks they're "something else." But at the same time, not all poetry can be objective, some must be subjective. Every time we write, a little bit of our soul goes into the making of our poetry. So, basically, all poems are personal poems, just in a different light. I cannot agree on one side or the other, because some personal poems drive me insane and make me want to scream, and others make me want to stop writing because of the beautiful talent laced within. I'm straddling the fence, as it were.

Pugilist - Loving the word "insipid"