[N. Matheson]

And yet, the broad consensus I have found among scholars and historians is that in 400 years, no author, however skilled, has surpassed Shakespeare's genius. It does seem to have concluded with him.

[Christine P'legion]

Ok, even accepting that premise as true -- I'm asking this sincerely and with kindness -- why give a shit?

N. Matheson will never write as well as Shakespeare. So what? Aren't you even a little curious about what he can do? Obviously you've got some grit and gumption because I remember having this exact conversation like a year ago and you're still here, you're still writing. There's part of you that's determined to be a poet anyway. Listen to that part of you.

[N. Matheson]

For a simple reason I fear oblivion more than anything else. If I am just another of countless poets, I am more terrified than I can express of being forgotten. Only a select few people ever get remembered, and if I fail to achieve that, I'll consider my life to have amounted to nothing. I would rather have never existed to begin with.

[Mark McDonnell]

Those select few who are remembered are still in oblivion. Blake died penniless and mocked but laughing and clapping his hands at the face of God.

Who cares what the "broad consensus" says! The broad consensus can talk a lot of bollocks sometimes. N, you have the worst case of the anxiety of influence! You don't really seem interested in engaging with what people have to say about your poems. You seem stuck in this Catch 22 of posting archaic sounding poetry, then when people criticise it for sounding archaic you self-pityingly bemoan that you will never be "as good as" Shakespeare. Newsflash! No, you almost certainly won't, so stop trying to compete with him! If you genuinely believe that there is nothing to be learned from anyone post Shakespeare — from Milton, Blake, Keats, Dickinson, Eliot, Plath, Proust, Joyce, Rilke (and on and on) — then yes. Stop.

But if you need to write you will write. And I really believe that you will find it so freeing when you learn to do so in your own voice.

[N. Matheson]

If I can't be as good as him, and I do believe he ended poetry and literature, then I guess I will stop.

[Christine P'legion]

Originally Posted by N. Matheson

I am more terrified than I can express of being forgotten. Only a select few people ever get remembered, and if I fail to achieve that, I'll consider my life to have amounted to nothing. I would rather have never existed to begin with.

With respect, I think we're now heading into territory far beyond the ken of a poetry workshop. The level of anxiety and distress you seem to be suffering around this idea of being remembered is probably worth exploring with a kind counselor or therapist.

Keep writing anyway.

[Mark McDonnell]

As far as such subjective things can be quantified, not one of us here is “as good as Shakespeare”. Indeed, every poetry workshop/journal in the world could be sub-headed Not As Good As Shakespeare. But then, Shakespeare probably thought he wasn’t as good as Chaucer…

Sincerely N, and with genuine concern and kindness…what Christine said.

[Roger Slater]

It might help you to be remembered if you'd tell us who you are.

In the meantime, 'Tis Sweet to be Remembered.

[Chris O'Carroll]

Writing in the 16th and 17th centuries, William Shakespeare did not try to sound like a writer from 400 years earlier. That's probably a big part of the reason that he's so well remembered and highly regarded. Just for the exercise, why not explore what thou canst do with the idiom of thine own era.

[Max Goodman]

I may not understand this poem. That it's painful not to be able to use "thou" and "wert" (which I take to be the subject) doesn't interest this reader. FWIW.

Originally Posted by N. Matheson

I am more terrified than I can express of being forgotten.

A poem that strongly captured that terror might have a chance of being remembered.