Does Bad Poetry Spring from Genuine Feeling or is it just Sincere? →

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Oscar Wilde said that “All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling. To be natural is to be obvious, and to be obvious is to be inartistic.

Harold Bloom used this phrase, saying instead, “All Bad Poetry is Sincere." Bloom was justifying why Maya Angelou was not included in his extensive list at the back of his book or among the 26 authors that made up what he felt was the primary influence of "Western Canon" in his book of the same name.

He added that Angelou’s thoughts were "sincere" but, in his view, lacked aesthetic accomplishment.  Bloom's conclusion seems to leave us with questions: "What does it mean to be a writer?" Must we write about things of value? Who defines value?

Bloom's real reasons for leaving Angelou off his list likely was the political influence she had by what she said.

For example, Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste and the philosophy of art. It examines aesthetic values, often expressed through judgments of taste.

This leaves us with the idea that::

“Bad Poetry” may be a matter of opinion.”

See more on Harold Bloom and the "Western Canon" under the review section.