The Proficient Critic

I'm quite well known, in certain parts,
for work with the poetic arts.
My skills are honed I'm most proficient
at pointing out all that's deficient.
Myself? I rarely write a line,
but use my talents to divine
the failings in the works I've read;
thus my corrective creed is spread.

And yet it seldom does behoove
to indicate how to improve.
Time was when I'd permit discourse
but writers would object, perforce,
for most could not appreciate
the subtleties of my debate.
So now I'll indicate what's wrong
and then I'll smartly move along.

Accomplishments? How best convey
that my opinions have held sway?
I well recall a would-be bard
whose work, though adequate, was marred.
Once I'd exposed his every flaw,
he subsequently wrote no more.
Ergo the wisdoms I dispense
can clearly have great influence.

What qualifies me, you may ask,
that I should undertake this task
to keep poetic standards high?
A weighty charge, I'll not deny.
Well I have studied ancient Greeks
and I can quote obscure techniques,
but mostly, with innate insight,
I always seem to know what's right.

So now I seek a worthy test;
to change the precepts of what's best,
by using all the skills I know
on such as Shelley, Keats and Poe.
Let others claim their works sublime,
I know that I'll find fault, in time,
and thus will show no verse, as yet,
can meet the standards that I set.

By MaXiM