Report on Results of the SCP Survey of Poets

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Report on Results of the SCP Survey of Poets

by Roy E. Peterson and Evan Mantyk

The survey had 60 respondents, about 1/3rd of them were SCP Members. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of basic poetry elements. This was their rating:

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Meter Importance: 93% ranked this as important (23.3%) or very important (70%)

Rhyme Importance: 95% ranked this as important (43.3%) or very important (51.7%)

Message Importance: 93% ranked this as important (25%) or very important (68.3%)

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For the favorite rhyme scheme, there were a wide variety of answers and no clear preference overall. The most common selected was abab, followed by couplets, aa bb.

When asked “What are your top three categories for poems you prefer to read?” Respondents most preferred “Humor/Satire” and “Stories,” which tied at 43.3%. This was followed by “Spiritual/Religious” at 41.7%, and “Imaginative/Fantasy” at 30%. At the other end, “Holiday-themed” received zero votes and “Children’s” received only one vote.

Asked about whether they have written in blank verse, 65% of respondents said they had. Asked if the Society of Classical Poets should publish blank verse, 48.3% said Yes, 25% said No, and 26.7% had No Preference.

Asked if more poetry challenges are needed, 62.1% of respondents said yes.  48.3% said six or more a year and 13.8% said less than six a year.

Our preferred font question elicited a variety of responses with the largest number of votes (12) going to  Times New Roman.

On the question of having used Artificial Intelligence (AI) in writing a poem, 93.3% answered No, while 6.7% answered Yes.

Questions about favorite living and past poets were highly varied with no single poet ever receiving more than five votes.

When asked, “When writing poetry, do you feel that an actual Muse of some sort is involved?” 44.1% answered Yes and 35.6% answered No.

We were pleased with so many comments of praise at the bottom of the form. We are also taking into consideration the constructive feedback given. We always seek to improve the SCP.

Thank you!

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