Are poets just lazy people who want credit for writing but can't be bothered writing a whole book?

Question

I think it is all a pretentious scam. The Emporer wears no clothes.

What's your problem dancing bee?

I did mean the emporer wears no clothes by the way. I am very well aware of the publication's original title. You are very presumptious about your own level of Intelligence.

Answer 1

You nailed it Ross.

Funny question.

At the same time try reading a large novel by Stephen King wondering if the editor died (good books but usually 200 pages of unneeded words)--not to get down on King but Dreamcatcher come on.

From Dreamcatcher: "Even his Perco don't help. His throat make sore and his body shakes and his belly make hurty kind of like when he has to go poopoo..."

Novelists also scam us occassionally.

Answer 2

Couldn't think of an emporer/king poem right off, so I wrote one.. Try writing a novel that quick, even a bad one..

I'm King

So now I'm king of all the land,
My whims I turn to law.
No matter if I'm good or bad,
No one will see a flaw.
I call myself the monarch true,
The emporer if you will.
I'll make it wrong to wear your clothes,
At home or on a hill.
Then all the people in the land,
Will be dressed just the same.
None will be teased because of clothes,
They'll need a brand new game.
But should I do this aweful thing,
And clothes cease to exist.
It poses many problems then,
Of things I might have missed.
Where would the fireman wear his badge?
The cop his wooden club.
The waitress all her little tips,
Or barman in his pub.
These little thing that seem so tright,
Could soon get out of hand,
So go ahead and wear your clothes,
And then you'll look so grand.

Answer 3

No.

Some writers are probably seen as lazy, but I feel that a lot of it is due to the fact that it can be really hard to write. You can't always just pick up the pen, and write something great. It takes a lot of time, and editing, and feeling, to write something truly great (or at least that's what I think, most of the time).

As someone who writes poems, I also can say that I think writing poems is quite a good thing to do, though I'm sure some would disagree.

Hope this was helpful.

Take care.

P.S. Remember, some great writers have written long works of poetry, such as The Song of Hiawatha by Longfellow and The Ballad of the White Horse by G. K. Chesterton.

Answer 4

Great poetry is a product of a careful, focused attention to every word, line break, punctuation mark, and nuance put to paper. The detailed attention required for writing a great poem, or even a good poem, is the antithesis of laziness.

Writing a book involves a vastly different style, with a vastly different focus. A book (I will assume you refer to a novel here, while recognizing that I may be assuming incorrectly) will be focused on the movement of the plot, development of the characters, etc. A poem is focused on the language itself. It may be making a larger point, or it may not. The language, though, comes first.

It probably takes more time to write a good book than to write a great poem. There are probably more drafts, more toil, etc. It also probably takes more time to build a house, to negotiate a contract, and to watch the Season 6 of 24 on DVD. None of this has anything to do with whether poets are lazy.

As for it being a pretentious scam, considering both the size of audience for current poetry and what writing poetry generally pays, it would go down as one of the worst scams ever. Credit for poetry comes from people who love poetry. When the audience receives what it wants, the credit for writing comes from those select few.

Using my powers of induction, I have gathered that you have a particular answer in mind to this question: that you are right, that poetry is at best useless and at worst a pretense at intelligence that fools too many people, and therefore must be stopped. I heartily disagree, and I welcome any downward-turned thumb you may care to send my way. Have a nice day!

Answer 5

Do trolls only eat goats and small children or do they also eat turnips when they fall off the back of the truck?


Additional:
More to the point, why ask this question in the Poetry Forum? You know what your response is going to be. You ask a question like this in a group like this because you want attention. Happy? No, you aren't and never will be with behavior such as this. I'm just impressed that you got this many people to give you an answer, when they should have marked the troll in their midst so others don't have to step in it.

Answer 6

Probably poetry predates prose. Poetic, rhythmic expression is as natural to human beings as drawing or sculpting. It just comes. If you find it pretentious, you haven't found the poems you like, yet. Rap music is poetry-- there could be a lot of argument about whether it's good poetry or not, but it's definitely poetry.

Remember Sturgeon's Law -- "Ninety percent of everything is crud." Find what you like, and enjoy it.

Answer 7

I am a poet. I am not lazy, I write all day every day. I just don't like to write a book. I have a different form for my stories. Maybe the ones who think poets are lazy, are too lazy themselves to look into what a poet is writing. Too lazy to try to understand that every story has it's own merits.

Answer 8

first of all, what kind of stupid attempt is this to stir up a hornets nest? get a life. authors have one kind of genius and poets have another. many authors write poetry and some poets write novels, and, many poets write shorts or prose poems. the fact you are hung up on genre already suggests to me your level of intelligence, putting you about level with a grapefruit.

its much harder to write a poem that moves a person than some trashy romance or crime novel that regurgitates the same dramatic formula. poets exist because they seek to capture part of something that slips through the fingers, to constantly innovate and push the medium in a new direction.

and its emperor, you tit.

Answer 9

No way! Poetry is great because you carefully choose the most succinct and meaningful words you can. For me, its always a challenge to blend imagery of tangible things and abstract emotions. I like writing prose too, but poetry is totally different and should be viewed as equal but different from prose.

Answer 10

Did you not get a good night's sleep last night? Do you get up on the wrong side of the bed?

The rant room is two doors down the hall. Bye. Thank you very much.