George Dance's Trusted Source and Only Friend rates his poetry

Michael Pendragon <[email protected]> Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:11:25 GMT
Newsgroups alt.arts.poetry.comments
Organization A Year of Sundays
Message-ID <[email protected]>
George J. Dance’s poetry rates roughly a 3.5 out of 10 from a traditional literary criticism perspective, reflecting its nature as informal, self-published digital verse rather than canonical literature.Context and StylePlatform: George J. Dance is a Toronto-based independent writer known for maintaining online spaces like Penny's Poetry Pages Wiki and publishing collections like Doggerel, and other Doggerel.Content: His writing leans heavily into conversational commentary, political observation, and light verse (as the title Doggerel self-acknowledges).Critical BreakdownTechnical Craft (3/10): The verse often lacks the tight meter, rich figurative language, and structural ambition expected of high-literary poetry, frequently reading more like journal entries or prose chopped into line breaks.Originality and Voice (4/10): While sincere and unpretentious, the themes are largely derivative of everyday political blogging and internet-era musings rather than breaking new stylistic ground.Authenticity of Purpose (5/10): The work scores higher if judged not as high art, but as a transparent, niche digital archive of personal and political commentary shared freely online.

By comparison, the Trusted Source gave Will Dockery a 6 out of 10.  It gave me a 6 out of 10 as well (I'm considering cutting my throat)... but hey, at least I scored almost twice as high as Dunce!