Hello Eratosphere!
It's been quite a while, but perhaps some of you remember me -- I was fairly active here around 10-15 years ago, on both the met and non-met sides of the house.
Then I started grad school in theology (part time), and was bemused to discover that apparently, doing theology and doing poetry used the same part of my brain: I couldn't do them both at the same time. (Even if I'd had time, which I really didn't.)
I graduated with an MA in theology in 2014... but by the time I'd been in grad school for a couple of years, I'd come to realize that so much of what I had learned
here had been excellent preparation for my studies. Because I'd been critiquing poems and discussing techniques, I already knew how to engage critically with a text, and how to do a close read. I knew how to do structural and detailed analyses of a scripture passage. I knew how forms work! and how the structure of a form can shape and emphasize meaning. I knew how a text could be multivalent, deliberately conveying multiple layers of meaning. I knew that literary devices are used to emphasize important points, not only to adorn. Because of the folks working in the Translation forum, I knew how challenging it is to effectively translate poetry, what kinds of things can be lost in translation, and what kinds of choices have to be made, which informed how I approached translations of poetic texts.
I really learned a lot from you all that turned out to be extraordinarily useful: so Thank You!!!!
Lately I've been wanting to get back into poetry, so I thought I'd come back here & see how it went. Of course, 15 years is about a century in internet years, so my email address had long since changed; but with some help from Alex I've finally gotten myself re-settled & logged in, and am looking forward to doing some critting. But I had to say Thank You first!
It's nice to see some familiar names still around, and I'm looking forward to meeting those who are new since I was last here.
cheers,
Victoria