Do you have to be miserable in life to write good poetry?

Avis Brantner: Be happy cos I like you a lot I like myself a whole lot more but who cares when you have wife's of 4I'll tickle you and tickle you until you laugh ;; and'' I'm a crap poet what about that :)Edit Ray my darling lol I have just read your answer to me in your last post I Was kiding with you about youe 4 wifes now I no you only have 3 ,, lol well only one now and she sounds nice and good for you it's nice to see your so happy with her love ye caz...Show more

Giovanna Sherlin: I like your poem, you, and (to your other answerer) Dr. Seuss. Though I understand the good doctor was a rather inconsiderate man. So I like you better. ;)

Ewa Homrich: no

Doreatha Kjellsen: Nancy, I'll address your posit in a wee bit!

Erica Bottaro: Of course not i love writing and i am not depressed or anything and people love my poetry it is just something people are good at basicly any body can write you don't need to be depressed to write good i! mean i am a huge fan or edger allen poe he is one of my favorite writters of all time and sure he was not always his happiest but no one has to be depressed to write good.

Shaquita Wernicki: I write poetry when i'm extremely miserable and when i'm extremely happy. So my answer is NO.

Frank Crummell: me too!I may think I need others...but in point of fact I am comfortable aloneI feel better though when I have a support group as even if we are happy with who we are, we need people around to complement our existence.right?not sure what brought on this little cough of a poem... I like it, I wish everyone could define who they were and stand alone, one needs to do this to stand together. imho...Show more

Caterina Yeargan: no, poetry is so beautiful, they say when you are sad, your most inner feelings come straight from the heart, the more you write you will feel that sensation happy or miserable.

Corey Rohleder: That is a very amazing poem i absoulutely ! loved it! i have always tried to right and mine were never clo! se to that one!! But with a little extra help i think you could maybe be a famous poerty writer one day. I loved it but jst tips for the future try to extend your vocabulary and it will be BETTER!!! I definately say you should write lots of poems in the future

Stanton Valdivia: nothing gold can stay

Derrick Smsith: IF YOU LIKE ME, I’M JUST TICKLED…BUT IT DON’T MATTER IF YOU DON’T!It makes me happy if you like me,But I’m not sad if you should not.I’ve come to be a happy man;Content with what he’s got!Sure I have wants and wishes,And I try, if I’ve a shot,But, win or lose…hooray or damn…The good, the bad…the whole Shazaam…I’m happy just the way I am…I like me quite a lot!!!...Show more

Madlyn Fallis: Nooo. Thank god no.My poetry would absolutely suck.

Christy Tirabassi: I think u ought to be a keen observer in order to understand the truth that gets always hidden under the superficial. So if u master this art then I think u ! can be a writer, painter etc,,,,....

Torrie Weissenbach: Most of your answers here are "no." I would disagree--to a point. To be in touch with your emotions, to be able to conjure them up to say something that qualifies as art, I think a writer has to be in touch with all of them, from the deep, dark, awful places to the ones that are in the clouds. Poetry is pure emotion transferred into words. To "get" a poem, the reader has to be as open as the writer was. You can read Sappho, one of the first poets ever, and still feel the yearning she had for those she loved. The only poets who tried to contain their emotions were the Neoclassical poets--Dryden and Pope, for example--and even they had a difficult time focusing on the "classics," because they chose topics that everyone can still relate to. John Donne wrote "no man is an island" and every time I read that, I still tear up. So yes, I think you have to be able to feel the misery of human life in order to rea! d and understand poetry. But I also feel that in misery, you can rise ! up and find beauty--and that is also what poetry teaches us....Show more

Travis Sherrock: nope, but writers to write their best poetry at their highest emotions..e.g. depression, excitement, anger.

Marvella Benward: Hi. I like your poem, I think it's awesome, we should always like our self no matter what others says or think about us. I'm glad you are a happy man. I love myself just the way I am.I love you just the way you are, and i love others the way they are. I can live with this. Nice thoughts.

Hyo Hardell: When I taught high school, I enjoyed Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, mostly because my students thought it was Santa who stopped, but my favorite is this with a similar theme. After Apple Picking My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree Toward heaven still. And there's a barrel that I didn't fill Beside it, and there may be two or three Apples I didn't pick upon some bough. But I am done with apple-picking now. Essence o! f winter sleep is on the night, The scent of apples; I am drowsing off. I cannot shake the shimmer from my sight I got from looking through a pane of glass I skimmed this morning from the water-trough, And held against the world of hoary grass. It melted, and I let it fall and break. But I was well Upon my way to sleep before it fell, And I could tell What form my dreaming was about to take. Magnified apples appear and reappear, Stem end and blossom end, And every fleck of russet showing clear. My instep arch not only keeps the ache, It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round. And I keep hearing from the cellar-bin That rumbling sound Of load on load of apples coming in. For I have had too much Of apple-picking; I am overtired Of the great harvest I myself desired. There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch, Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall, For all That struck the earth, No matter if not bruised, or spiked with stubble, Went surely to the cider-apple heap As ! of no worth. One can see what will trouble This sleep of mine, whatever! sleep it is. Were he not gone, The woodchuck could say whether it's like his Long sleep, as I describe its coming on, Or just some human sleep....Show more

James Langmyer: For you I think it past the likeand the fur lined gloveto more a spikeof what I know as love.You have called me self deprecatiingin our relating,and maybe yer right, I amBut I ain't spam.OK wait I do like fried spam with eggs, and grits.ok one last thought then I have too many minutes boughtDo ya rememer what Popeye said?I yam what I yam.what they had to cut was"if ya dont care I don't give a damn"...Show more

Donnell Nocella: Personally, I believe that poetry you write reflects on the feelings that you are or have felt about whatever subject you are writing about.I write lonely, sad poems because I like lonely sad poems. And because I grew up a lonely child.

Bud Espenshade: i love this poem but i can see how it would need more work, its kind of dark and what not, but i like it that wa! y. i just want to know how to make it betterangeranger is like a dark storm in your heartit penetrates like a razor sharp dartcreating waves in your blooduntil it throws you deep into the sick mudyou slip and fall far far downwhere in those depth you shall drownfighting to breathe the forgotten airanger you shall no longer bareso you float down the river to the bloody seato pass on the anger that had so wrought thee...Show more

Tana Dumoulin: I've always loved "Acquainted with the Night"; the nuances of it move me. "Fire and Ice" is a fun one - it has depth as well, but it's one that just feels good to read aloud.

Patrick Bitsui: no, not at all!

Ronnie Panas: Go to YouTube and search for hatsune miku red guard syth and red swamp bottom English subs you can work your poem off of that :D

Otto Lingafelt: Of course not!

Adelle Weight: no not at all, however u'd have those kind of feelings thats all n mastermind also lods of knowledge of vocabulary! verbs

Rosella Figliola: Go ahead, post it for me to read. I nee! d some good material. :)

Rosalba Lingner: Ray, this isn't a serious piece nor was it so intended, but from the perspective of technical merit it is among your very best...

Bob Nakamoto: Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening has got to be my favourite.....said, however when I haven't read all of his poetry. When I did spend some time doing so I was a little disappointed with some of his longer poems....they were too 'ordinary'The Road Not Taken and The Runaway come in second and third.The Runaway Once when the snow of the year was beginning to fall,We stopped by a mountain pasture to say, "Whose colt?"A little Morgan had one forefoot on the wall,The other curled at his breast. He dipped his headAnd snorted to us. And then we saw him bolt.We heard the miniature thunder where he fled,And we saw him, or thought we saw him, dim and gray,Like a shadow across instead of behind the flakes.The little fellow's afraid of the falling snow.He never saw it before. It isn't pl! ayWith the little fellow at all. He's running away.He wouldn't believe when his mother told him, 'Sakes,It's only weather.' He thought she didn't know!So this is something he has to bear aloneAnd now he comes again with a clatter of stone,He mounts the wall again with whited eyesDilated nostrils, and tail held straight up straight.He shudders his coat as if to throw off flies."Whoever it is that leaves him out so late,When all other creatures have gone to stall and bin,Ought to be told to come and take him in."...Show more

Gene Debell: edger allen poe did

Theresia Fashaw: "Out, Out"

Agustina Stimmel: Why I do...I DO...I DOI do like Dr. Seuss, trueand think that so would, too, one as Grinch-like as you!An' "W."...bub...this is a follow-on, so follow me, or you risk lookin' silly critiquin' out of context!As for ever'body else, such kind words, I couldn't help but enjoy. I am happy because I am accepted, too, know that, because all Y!All are a big part o' wh! y, lately. So I must convey my sincerest thanks for helpin' me maintain! this outlook and attitude! I have had more spiritual congress out here than anywhere else, aside from church, in some time! It's easy to be confident when you're well supported! T'anks! And, Peter, a special thanks to you; your technical input is valuable and, therefore, valued highly!...Show more

Russ Kiernan: That sounds good to me Ray. I like people who are not afraid to be themselves and can walk somewhat comfortably in their own shoes. Being content is an honorable quality that I too strive for..

Anibal Scheid: Material to read that is. :)

Providencia Jalbert: funny question...i suppose i will take the road of no favorites.

Toby Women: It has long been my theory that all 'artists' suffer; even if it is from an excess of joy, they have to express it/let it out!

Vida Miss: challenging task. look at a search engine. it can assist!

Paul Maymi: So nice to have the key to know what makes me tick.Nice to see such a happy pen

Lynn M! elbourne: no. poetry reflects YOU. it can be very happy or very sadd.

Donte Schoenhals: No, you have to be a good writer to write poetry. I've tried and failed horribly, so don't feel too bad

Marielle Hedeiros: The way it rhymes makes it sound like a happy poem. Other than that its pretty good :)

Cassondra Vanholland: well i found i wrote better when i was depressed..now that im not..it seems i cant write or draw anymore....... whats with that?

Terrell Lawman: this is too depressing to answerDUDE!!

Nell Dipiero: I think it helps, most of the time. The reason it helps is probably the emotion behind it...so I guess you don't HAVE to be miserable, just have strong feelings about something.

Zulema Baccam: no, how do you even write poetry

Ewa Homrich: A contented man Ray. Completely happy with his lot. You know what, you got me thinking and I quite like me as well. Lighthearted pen.

Debora Rinderer: I think poetry is good upon int! erpretation. If I have experienced something you wrote about, I may fi! nd the poem, intriguing. I say, keep writing your poems. Why? Literature in its finest, is based from interpretation. Nothing written sucks, if its from your heart and mind. I doubt you write bad poetry, if you write it from the heart and life experiences. KEEP WRITING!!!

Mark Hovanes: "Fireflies" and "Nothing Gold Can Stay" are about tied for me.

James Langmyer: no look at billy collins he is good

Saran Stealy: Good for you Ray! You know what, I guess I like me too and wanna be like you. Cassie mentioned it: contented! A contented man is in Paradise (ref to HD's question). These things all do pass, and if we become too concerned or serious, we lose a lot of opportunity at being happy. I like you Ray, I really do!

Ricardo Rozelle: Sweetie, poetry comes fromthe heart, feelings & emotions. U can b happy, sad, depressed, whatever mood ure in u can ride a beautiful poem that can touch peoples hearts no matter what mood ure in. So no u don't ha! ve 2 b miserable. Someday I would like 2 read 1 of ur poems. Good luck!