Judging Contemporary Poems: Criteria and the Editor

Abstract

Many people think and talk about judging poems. Fewer actually do it, and these are usually editors. At its best editing is a self-effacing activity. The editor selects and presents, showing his literary criteria by example, not arguing the reader into appreciation as the critic often does. By this silence, however, judging can take on more mystery than it deserves. Put simply, those who judge routinely seldom theorize about it, and those who do theorize about judging rarely judge. Perhaps for good reason, since judging poems tends to be an intuitive process. The editor's intuitions need sound critical foundations, but because judgments don't require reasons submitted as proof, intuition can be a reliable and useful tool without being analyzed. To connect the theory of judging poems with its practice, I will first describe how the editors of one poetry magazine make their choices, then I'll try to suggest criteria implicit in their judging, and finally ask if contemporary poems require special standards or approaches in judging.