ANSWERS: 2
  • It'd be hard to write poems without them.
  • I think the most powerful writing - whether prose or poetry uses adjectives sparingly as possible, and those that are there have to be incredibly strong. Writing with lots of adjectives tends to sound amateur and a bit excitable to me - as if the person is thinking "Look I'm really WRITING now, I'm telling everyone exactly how the sky and the trees and the smile looks." I also think any adjective has to be specific and original. I don't particularly care that a wood is leafy or dark, seeing as woods generally are leafy and dark. But if it smells of wild garlic, or leaves a mossy feeling under your fingernails - or the sun lights up the hairs on your lover's cheek - that's more interesting. Adjectives also tend to be a bit abstract - I think visual images are better. "Beautiful" means nothing to me but someone who "looks like she was made of frosted glass" gives me something to latch onto. Generally I don't want to know what a poet thinks so much as I want to know what they experience. Having said that - they're not nearly as bad as adverbs. Loads of "ly" words everywhere is just plain ugly.

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