Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick McRae
I agree, I was more thinking of the 'help with writing' aspect. When I started out I knew very little about the history of poetry or different schools, which may have actually worked to my advantage. At the time I wasn't trying to emulate anyone or anything and my voice was allowed to develop naturally.
These days, however, it feels like this forum has gotten me over the hump of obvious mistakes and I find myself looking to pick and choose approaches (so in that sense learning about different schools may be helpful to me now, at least in an indirect way).
Although the more I read, and the more I learn, the more I find myself thinking: this is really beautiful poetry but completely antithetical to my voice. I'd just never write this way.
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That makes sense. By the way, I think I sounded dismissive of the topic and that was not my intent. I do think it can be interesting, for a variety of reasons, to look at different poets and what they have in common (or don't). And in some cases poets self-identified with certain movements, so that is useful to know.
Your last paragraph is interesting. I feel as if I learn the most from poets that have very different voices than I do. I don't write like ee cummings or Stevie Smith, for instance, and wouldn't try to, but I find their poetry inspiring and invaluable. Of course there are also poets whose skill I can appreciate but who leave me absolutely cold. I haven't noticed that the school of poetry they subscribe to makes any difference in that regard, though.