We are not perfect, we are not angelic. We can be evil, but we are not demonic. We are not Godly, though some might wish it. We are only human, but no one will believe it.
I am myself, I am my own being. I am not controlled, I am untamed and raging. I am not normal, I am a freak; if you will. I pride myself on this, I am not run of the mill.
I have some faults, as do we all. But a few things I am a master of, as are we all. We all have our fortés, our one special thing we're best at. We are not Godly, but that doesn't mean we are any less than that.
We are all individuals, unique in our own way. We are all good at one thing or another, we all have a perfect day. We are not demonic or angelic, we are not Legion. We are simply perfect in our imperfection; for we are human.
I like the idea for this, even if it has one that has been visited over and over again in poetry; The themes and conclusions you draw in this are centuries old, and because of that, I really can't give you any credit for originality, especially because the wording your chose was incredibly direct and doesn't really add any new twists or imagery. That being said, I wouldn't say that the lack of novelty affected the quality of the poem.
Where this poem takes its greatest toll is technique, in that the quality of the technique waned as the poem went along, which has a terrible effect on impact: you want your opening and last stanzas to be the strongest, because those are the ones people remember, and in this case, the opening was strong but the power of the message dwindled.
This was partly due to the cadence and rhyme: as you went along, I could see you struggling with the meter in order to fit your rhyme scheme, and there were lines where the rhythm was totally thrown. I think the worst offender would probably be this entire stanza—
"I have some faults, as do we all. But a few things I am a master of, as are we all. We all have our fortés, our one special thing we're best at. We are not Godly, but that doesn't mean we are any less than that."
There is just no natural cadence there, as there was in the rest of the poem, especially the beginning. The punctuation is off, the syllabic content is off...
This could be a very effective poem if you touched up on the wording, made a stronger ending, and kept cadence in mind above rhyme. Even the poetic masters would choose a half-rhyme on the occasion they couldn't find a perfect one that fit their structure; cadence is arguably the most important element of poetry, and as a poet, your first priority should be to ensure it is there, especially in a poem so threadbare as this one.
If you go simple, make sure your technique is flawless.
Another point I would like to make is about punctuation: stop using periods so much. They serve no purpose other than to muddy your rhythm. Your commas are also out of whack in some places; refer to previous critiques I have written you for more exact advice, but I will give you a hint: that paragraph I already picked out is by far the weakest in the poem and exemplifies all of your missteps.
What I do like about this poem is it is more optimistic than your usual style, and with revision, it could have a very accessible elegance. The first stanza is your —especially in cadence; it was perfect— and mirroring that rhythm and style through the rest of the poem will help greatly.
There are a lot of really excellent qualities about this piece. The message, as has been noted in countless comments, is insanely relatable and brilliantly accessible. The theme is strong, the message uplifting. All of these are really great things!
However, I think there are some aspects that you could improve on. In the beginning, for example, you start off with something that's known as masculine rhyme ('-ic/-ic, it/it'). Basically, the last two syllables in each word are the same. While there's noting wrong with that, masculine rhyme often sounds choppy, and in this case it doesn't come off as 'rhyming' - I didn't realize until the second stanza that there was supposed to be a scheme. In fact, the rhyme and the rhyme scheme seemed to me to give you a lot of trouble throughout the work - every line is a full sentence, and your last rhyme - 'legion/human' - is more of a half-rhyme than a full rhyme. I believe that if you broke this into a-b-a-c instead of current a-a-b-b you might find it easier to break fully and rhyme completely.
That being said, in conjunction with the work overall, this presents a mild problem. I do think that you've done a great job here with the message and accessibility, I do think that this is a very good poem. As always, you are the author - you can take or leave my critique. Congratulations on making the front page!
Okay, I could not comment on anything for a few weeks cause of internet but now I am back so I have faved and ran on a lot of your stuff. Sorry bout that but I read them, liked them but commenting on every single one felt a wee bit tedious so on the subject of this I wanna say that I really love poems about human nature and this is done superbly. Well done, comrade
Hello this is =Eitvys200 with great news. Your work was featured in #5-Stars-Artists journal project 5-Stars-Artists feature Here. Please fave it if you enjoyed.
Quite good, but we are not 100% Human. And that is a fact I like to write poems as well. Mostly spiritual and nature related. Thanks for sharing. Namaste!
All I said it was obvious. What part of THAT don't you understand? Whatever, I'm not gonna waste my time here. BTW what do you mean by an admin? Also, a little piece of wisdom for you. Innocence proves nothing. Nobody is innocent. There are merely varying levels of guilt. Final comment for you, Reaper.
Where this poem takes its greatest toll is technique, in that the quality of the technique waned as the poem went along, which has a terrible effect on impact: you want your opening and last stanzas to be the strongest, because those are the ones people remember, and in this case, the opening was strong but the power of the message dwindled.
This was partly due to the cadence and rhyme: as you went along, I could see you struggling with the meter in order to fit your rhyme scheme, and there were lines where the rhythm was totally thrown. I think the worst offender would probably be this entire stanza—
"I have some faults, as do we all.
But a few things I am a master of, as are we all.
We all have our fortés, our one special thing we're best at.
We are not Godly, but that doesn't mean we are any less than that."
There is just no natural cadence there, as there was in the rest of the poem, especially the beginning. The punctuation is off, the syllabic content is off...
This could be a very effective poem if you touched up on the wording, made a stronger ending, and kept cadence in mind above rhyme. Even the poetic masters would choose a half-rhyme on the occasion they couldn't find a perfect one that fit their structure; cadence is arguably the most important element of poetry, and as a poet, your first priority should be to ensure it is there, especially in a poem so threadbare as this one.
If you go simple, make sure your technique is flawless.
Another point I would like to make is about punctuation: stop using periods so much. They serve no purpose other than to muddy your rhythm. Your commas are also out of whack in some places; refer to previous critiques I have written you for more exact advice, but I will give you a hint: that paragraph I already picked out is by far the weakest in the poem and exemplifies all of your missteps.
What I do like about this poem is it is more optimistic than your usual style, and with revision, it could have a very accessible elegance. The first stanza is your —especially in cadence; it was perfect— and mirroring that rhythm and style through the rest of the poem will help greatly.
However, I think there are some aspects that you could improve on. In the beginning, for example, you start off with something that's known as masculine rhyme ('-ic/-ic, it/it'). Basically, the last two syllables in each word are the same. While there's noting wrong with that, masculine rhyme often sounds choppy, and in this case it doesn't come off as 'rhyming' - I didn't realize until the second stanza that there was supposed to be a scheme. In fact, the rhyme and the rhyme scheme seemed to me to give you a lot of trouble throughout the work - every line is a full sentence, and your last rhyme - 'legion/human' - is more of a half-rhyme than a full rhyme. I believe that if you broke this into a-b-a-c instead of current a-a-b-b you might find it easier to break fully and rhyme completely.
That being said, in conjunction with the work overall, this presents a mild problem. I do think that you've done a great job here with the message and accessibility, I do think that this is a very good poem. As always, you are the author - you can take or leave my critique.
Congratulations on making the front page!
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