Accepting Criticism: An Act of Enclosing Poetry
In her poem "Exclosure" Amanda Jernigan articulates how poetry is a passionate, yet terrifying form of expression. Through the writing process, a poem will take on a life of its own as every time that it is read, new ideas and interpretations are developed. This to a writer can be an alarming concept to grasp. Out of fear an author keeps their work to themselves since they lack the certainty of how it will be received by the world. Jernigans 's poem "Exclosure" explains how this thought process is toxic to both the poet and the poetry that they have written. Her poem showcases how we wish to enclose our creations as when they enter a place of criticism, the author themselves will be criticized …show more content…
From the first stanza to the second, the imagery in Jernigan 's poem transforms from that of winter scene to that of a spring scene. She describes her experience with trying to keep her art contained as being “the winter of the year” (7). Winter may be beautiful but it is black and white and all the life found within the nature of the world is dead. In the second stanza however, Jernigan describes her experience of letting her art into the world. This experience takes on the form of an analogy to the spring. Her poem has not been scrutinized and ripped apart by scholars as she thought it would but it has instead “grown up” (10) and taken on a life of its own through different interpretations of her work. There are different interpretations of her work but these new interpretations are not misinterpretations. They bring new meaning to her work and they add layers to her creation. Instead of bare and dead, the spring trees are “so thick I can 't see past” (11). Her bare trees have grown leaves, each leaf a new interpretation of her work. This simply enriches her work, it does not discredit her work like she perhaps thought it might. Her work does evolves but the evolution is …show more content…
When a poet releases their work into the world, they do risk their work being misconstrued and over-analyzed but the result of this may be rewarding to both the author and their work. As stated, it is toxic for an author to keep their work to themselves as they cannot grow through the criticism of others. Instead of her words being cooped up under close watch Jernigan 's “saplings have grown up at last:/ indeed, so thick I can 't see past” (10-11). Jernigan let her work grow under the interpretations of others and because of this, her work has flourished. Yet she questions this. She wonders if she truly wanted to let her work change under the supervision of the readers. She finishes the second stanza by saying, “I have managed to enclose,/ paradise, or a paradise lost” (13-14). By writing, Jernigan wished to create something beautiful and when she did she adored her creation. So much so she was afraid to let it go. Upon entering the world, her beautiful creation has changed. It has grown through the eyes of readers but in the final lines of her poem Jernigan wonders if she really wants this. She had created what she believed to be a perfect paradise but now she wonders if perhaps her paradise is a “paradise lost” (14). This seems tragic but when
In her poem "Exclosure" Amanda Jernigan articulates how poetry is a passionate, yet terrifying form of expression. Through the writing process, a poem will take on a life of its own as every time that it is read, new ideas and interpretations are developed. This to a writer can be an alarming concept to grasp. Out of fear an author keeps their work to themselves since they lack the certainty of how it will be received by the world. Jernigans 's poem "Exclosure" explains how this thought process is toxic to both the poet and the poetry that they have written. Her poem showcases how we wish to enclose our creations as when they enter a place of criticism, the author themselves will be criticized …show more content…
From the first stanza to the second, the imagery in Jernigan 's poem transforms from that of winter scene to that of a spring scene. She describes her experience with trying to keep her art contained as being “the winter of the year” (7). Winter may be beautiful but it is black and white and all the life found within the nature of the world is dead. In the second stanza however, Jernigan describes her experience of letting her art into the world. This experience takes on the form of an analogy to the spring. Her poem has not been scrutinized and ripped apart by scholars as she thought it would but it has instead “grown up” (10) and taken on a life of its own through different interpretations of her work. There are different interpretations of her work but these new interpretations are not misinterpretations. They bring new meaning to her work and they add layers to her creation. Instead of bare and dead, the spring trees are “so thick I can 't see past” (11). Her bare trees have grown leaves, each leaf a new interpretation of her work. This simply enriches her work, it does not discredit her work like she perhaps thought it might. Her work does evolves but the evolution is …show more content…
When a poet releases their work into the world, they do risk their work being misconstrued and over-analyzed but the result of this may be rewarding to both the author and their work. As stated, it is toxic for an author to keep their work to themselves as they cannot grow through the criticism of others. Instead of her words being cooped up under close watch Jernigan 's “saplings have grown up at last:/ indeed, so thick I can 't see past” (10-11). Jernigan let her work grow under the interpretations of others and because of this, her work has flourished. Yet she questions this. She wonders if she truly wanted to let her work change under the supervision of the readers. She finishes the second stanza by saying, “I have managed to enclose,/ paradise, or a paradise lost” (13-14). By writing, Jernigan wished to create something beautiful and when she did she adored her creation. So much so she was afraid to let it go. Upon entering the world, her beautiful creation has changed. It has grown through the eyes of readers but in the final lines of her poem Jernigan wonders if she really wants this. She had created what she believed to be a perfect paradise but now she wonders if perhaps her paradise is a “paradise lost” (14). This seems tragic but when