Young Writers Society

*googles navel gazing*
Oh.

Most poems could be fit under the category of "emo". The romantics in their day were described as "sturm und drang", or storm and stress....and yep, you guessed it, that would be our emo today.

Nonetheless, most poems are emo, most emo is crap. That simple. It's (the emo) pretentious, it bawwws about itself, it's self-centered without sophistication and perspective and lacks believability. Selfish, bitterly selfish with nothing redeeming. Poetry needs to be vain, yet seductive and intelligent. None of it has to be clear, easy, or obvious to understand.

--> in my ow opinion, EMO poetry doesn't really suck, because sometimes emotions keep a poem alive, I guess what makes you guys, hate Emo poetry is it's pessimism. Like poems that talk about being suicidal and slashing one's wrist.. Emo poetry expresses one's emotions in a strong way that can steal attention but it's pessimism is what's making it bad. I read any kind of poem as long as I find them creative anyway, as for me, no poem is good or bad because that's the way of that poet to express their emotions and share their thoughts. :] That's all I can say!

In writing poetry so that it doesn't sound emo, I take the Bukowski philosophy: don't try.
I think emo poetry is when the writer has overused metaphors to try and express a feeling and it is beginning to sound flowery with cliched and generic adjectives and verbs. It's difficult to describe the difference between an emo poem and a good poem, but when I read poetry, I find that an emo poem feel forced and it doesn't flow as well.

"Emo" poetry - or TTAP, thank you Sabradan - is the kind of crap that you get sick of seeing on Facebook or stupid things your peers write when their latest "relationship" has failed. True, legitimate poetry goes to a place so much deeper than that. If it is about a person, it should be going so much further than, "Wow, you're pretty, I think I might like you or something, we should go out since I think there's a miniscule emotional attatchment between us..." I can rant for quite a while, so I'll stop. But true poetry does come from a place that should be deeper than just your "everyday soul," as I will call it. Poetry comes from a deep inspiration of the heart, whether good or bad depends on what's going on in the author's life at the time. If someone is writing said TTAP and are sharing it with people, they're mostly trying to get attention, I think.
I don't mean to offend anybody, but if you find yourself continually writing about the same sad thing over and over, try finding more to life so you can write better poetry.

I dont know
emo-ish poems
are always dramatic and
have something to do with hurting
or doing some unorthodox
just saying
not all of them
but most of them
do

D'ya know... I guess that all of my poems are pretty much "emo."
And that makes me frown.


I really don't understand the difference :O
Maybe some poems should be kept more private than others, but they're all reflecting on inner feelings... (referring to some of those above examples)
The only difference is that you guys have added "Boo-hoo" 's and "life sucks" at the end to prove a point

I hate emo poetry! If it deserves the title "poetry". I don't really like the title "Emo" because most of my work is darker pieces, but mine are meant to make the reader feel emotion, and connect to the piece. Emo is chopped up sentences that are molded harshly to rhyme. Emo..."poems" are basically the ranting of pissed off teenagers that want everyone to know that life sucks. Good but dark poetry gives the reader something to feel. Real dark and emotional poetry goes so much deeper than that. People who write emo poetry will amuse people, not make people feel. My work is dark, but I get comments like powerful, scary, and amazing. There's a big difference between poetry written like mine and "emo poetry".

I guess you could only define emo poetry as depressing and emotional.

Now that doesn't guarentee that it is a bad poem. We shouldn't judge a poem on genre but on content, portrayal, and presentation.

If one is to convey an emotion in an 'emo' way, is that a bad thing? No. Letting things out through words can be good, as it can often mean that the poem has a real meaning, which often results in a better poem.

We need to be careful in our judgement, and no stereotype or judge a poem by it's genre, or main themes.

Emo poetry tells the reader how the writer feels, while good poetry shows the reader what's going on... A good poem will be something people can relate to. Emo poetry will seem too "woe is me," too self involved, and even if people have been through the same sort of thing, no one will be empathetic because it's too... pretentious.

Haha well, I think it’s referred to as “Gothic”, but that’s beside the point.

Don’t misunderstand “deep, pain-filled poetry” for “gothic/emo poems”. There’s a big difference.

Emo:

“Wishing my wrist were bleeding,
To stop the pain from the beatings. . . .”

(Flyleaf sings that, I didn’t write it.)
That’s emo. Pain-filled, personal poems are totally different and I hate when people mix them up.
(Lol I know my avatar is Hello Kitty with a skull bow, but I’m nt emo haha I just think she’s cool.)
But I'll reveiw almost anything, emo or not. I try to keep an open mind as long as the writer is being REAL.

Haha well, I think it’s referred to as “Gothic”, but that’s beside the point.

Don’t misunderstand “deep, pain-filled poetry” for “gothic/emo poems”. There’s a big difference.

Emo:

“Wishing my wrist were bleeding,
To stop the pain from the beatings. . . .”

(Flyleaf sings that, I didn’t write it.)
That’s emo. Pain-filled, personal poems are totally different and I hate when people mix them up.
(Lol I know my avatar is Hello Kitty with a skull bow, but I’m nt emo haha I just think she’s cool.)
But I'll reveiw almost anything, emo or not. I try to keep an open mind as long as the writer is being REAL.

Although emo poetry isn't exactly the best, it is a start. It is a start of putting emotion on paper. Good poetry in my opinion takes the reader on a journey. Not necessarily a event to event journey, but one you can feel,grow and acknowledge as you are reading the poem.

huh, I'm not sure. Maybe "emo" poems just lack connection, and from some of you guys' words they seem to be that emo poems are a complete poem pity party. Now if by emo you mean pity party poems, then yeah, it's like; your poem says your life sucks.....now I want a sandwich. I think good poems actually make you feel the emotions in the piece, they don't just say the emotions they feel or you should feel while reading it.

I think this assertion is ridiculous. It is a fallacy to group a whole fad in poetry or anything and say it is bad. There are good parts to "emo" poems and there are bad parts, just like there are writers whom you may find that are good and some that are bad. The foundation of creativity is having no bounds, when you eliminate everything associated with the fad we look through narrow one way hallways. I often see people saying "the art of poetry would be better without rhyme scheme ect." and assertions like these ruin creativity. Whenever someone gets beaten down when people say what they do is not valuable, they change.

The simple fact is it is good because they find it to be good. Value, art.

I refuse to generalize every single poem out there and say it is garbage. Sure in my experiences most of what I read falling under this stereotype is unoriginal, but not all. There are also, in my opinion bad writers and good writers. It makes no difference if they fall under the stereotypes of emo.