Emily Rose

Hey everyone!

I'm back for the summer, so hopefully I'll be able to get back into my normal reviewing habits! I'm going to try to return reviews to people who review my work, and you can always send me a message or a read request, although PLEASE LIMIT YOUR READ REQUESTS TO ONE AT A TIME. If you send me too many I'll get overwhelmed! ALso, I have two contests out to celebrate the fact that I'm back!

Imagery Contest Jun 10, 2009 - Jun 20, 2009 Win Reviews for the winners

Response Poetry Contest Jun 9, 2009 - Jun 20, 2009 Win Detailed reviews for the winners

I'm a sophomore in college and a very, VERY enthusiastic English major (B.A.) and French major (B.A.) and a concentration in linguistics and, more recently, I've been toying with the idea of pursuing a minor in Philosophy as well. I'm an avid learning and a just as avid dreamer: I suffer from frequent fantasies about going to Princeton for graduate school, one day becoming a published poet whose works are read and dissected by high school and college students and (this is my favorite) becoming the poet laureate. Dreams such as these are highly unrealistic, but I cling to them anyway, taking the ever-appropriate advice of Langston Hughes to "hold fast to dreams."

I am a poet, mostly. Sometimes I attempt prose, but to me it's generally not as good, although I'm currently working on a long and involved novel that will, with any luck, be finished and edited by the time I'm done with undergrad. I'm my own worst critic, of course, and generally I am only proud of the things that I write for a few days. Despite these thoughts, my father recently put to me the idea of gathering some of my best poems and publishing them as a book (probably self-publishing, although I would certainly look into formal publishing as well). This idea has been weighing heavily on my mind of late, and I would be extremely grateful if any of you who have read my poetry would share with me your thoughts. Suggestions as to which count as "the best" would, of course, be very helpful, too.

My poetic style is a little strange since my biggest influences are the Romantics (Keats, Blake, Shelley, Coleridge etc.) and more recently poets like Gerard Manley Hopkins, W. B. Yeats, Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot. I used to be one of those people who was terrified to deviate from a rigid rhyme scheme, but further study of poetry, plus a few workshops I attended, made it apparent that structure certainly isn't everything. I still struggle to write in pure "free" verse, since I often make up my own rules if there isn't a rhyme scheme to guide me, but lately I've been concentrating on other poetic devices to spice up my writing, and that's really helped a lot.

I tend to experiment a lot with different verse forms and styles to help me improve, and often I will write "in the style of" some other author (most recently my style has taken a sharp turn toward T.S. Eliot, who is quickly rising in my esteem). This is not an attempt to abandon my own poetic voice, however, but rather an attempt to shape and improve it. The consequence of this is that, sadly, my newer poetry tends to be more than a little obscure. This is not ALWAYS the case, but lately I've been doing a lot more name-dropping and making more and more references to classical poetry, myths and literature. I apologize for any confusion that this may cause on the part of my readers, but please understand that not ALL of my poems are like this and that the references are included so I can get a better feel for the art of allusion and not as an inconvenience to the reader. I will happily explain any areas that people might find confusing, and if they are brought to my attention I will take their confusion into account when I edit my works.

Of course, I did not join this site just to share my own writing, but to read other peoples' as well. Therefore I happily accept read requests, although I ask that you send me ONE AT A TIME so I don't get overwhelmed. Also, sadly, I lack the time to read full novels. I read the occasional story, but my specialty and my first love is overwhelmingly for poetry. Please be patient with your requests as well; come September I will be very busy with school, so I won't be able to spend nearly as much time on this site as I do now.

I should warn you, however, that two semesters' worth of literary criticism and theory courses, plus some direction on how to be a good critic from my professors, have turned me into a rather demanding critic. I have a tendency to "tell it like it is" when it comes to writing; I am certainly not trying to be mean; I'm just trying to help the author improve. Of course, I am just one person and I am far from infallible so authors should always take my suggestions with a grain of salt and use them as he or she sees fit. That said, I believe that there are a few simple rules to which writers should adhere in order for their work to be taken seriously and these are as follows:

1. Proper spelling. I can understand if you misspell something on purpose for the sake of your piece or if you replace something with a homophone that spellchecker doesn't catch, but honestly, if you want your work to be taken seriously, you should at least have the decency to run it through a spell-checker first.

2. Not writing in all capital letters. Obviously this one goes for poetry moreso than prose, but I reserve the right to reject any read request written in all capital letters; it's jejune and unnecessary.

3. At least some attempt at proper punctuation and grammar. I know that punctuation and grammar rules are hard to follow, especially for those just learning them, but I, nor many other critics, will not take you seriously if you do not make a least some attempt to follow them, ESPECIALLY in prose pieces. Some mistakes are expected, of course, but if it gives me a headache to read it, I will simply stop reading. Of course, this rule is one that poets in particular follow very loosely, and rightfully so! Poetry is a form a self-expression that can, sometimes, define the constraints of proper punctuation and grammar. This does not, however, give all poets the license to completely disregard such rules. One of my biggest pet peeves in poetry occurs when the poet will see fit to add, for example, two periods and one measly comma (usually misplaced) but does not offer any other punctuation at all. There are times when such use of limited punctuation is useful and wonderfully artistic (see anything by the excellent writer JR Maston (JR on this site) for proof of this), but more often than not it implies inexperience or laziness on the part of the author. Be aware that comments about punctuation are my number one critique in reviews. You may either shrug them off with a "oh well that's just Emily Rose up on her punctuation soapbox again," and that's fine, but I promise that all my critiques are kindly meant and never a slander of your skills, your character or otherwise. Also keep in mind that I speak from my personal preference - only YOU, the author, can attest to what it is you like in you work. I can only give you my honest opinion.

If you have read this far you are certainly to be congratulated. I promise that my actual works (with the exception of my novel) are not nearly this long.