/lit/ - Literature

Is poetry the superior written art form? Why/why not?

A slightly different experience in my part.

I was a police officer for several years without going to uni. As many others here, always had a passion for literature which only increased over time. With the support of my gf (who is an accountant) I left the police to do an English Lit degree while tutoring part time and doing freelance writing type stuff on Upwork.

Yes, idpol has played a role in my studies. However it has not been present for nearly the extent that I prepared myself for. In my second year I studied the poetry of Shelley and Wordsworth, Dickens and Brontë as well as a couple of works from writers of colour. This was much less apparent in my final year where I studied T.S. Eliot, Wordsworth, Thoreau's Walden, Calvino and undertook an extremely satisfying creative writing module.

3 years later, I'm hoping to scrape a first and have submitted applications to masters programs. I have had several short stories and poems published and have a good writing portfolio as well as interest in my first novel. I could go for an MFA but equally would like to complete a PhD in Russian literature and secure a professorship (or more likely a comfy private school teaching gig).

So, in short, I am happy for having chosen this route. I was sick and tired of dealing with the worst of the worst in the police and my dream of being a homicide detective vanished quickly when I realised most murders were criminal on criminal, dealer on dealer or else shitty domestics in literal slums. Instead I now have an opportunity to pursue a career where I can talk about what I love while waiting to see if I 'make it' as a writer.

I wake up, read, go for a walk, write fiction/poetry for a couple hours, do some literary criticism usually for an assignment/set reading for a couple hours, spend the rest of the day reading until gf gets home, switch brain off watching TV with her then pray/read religious texts in bed until I go to sleep. It's a comfy life and I'm happier than I've ever been. Happy to answer questions

I'm so in love with stories. I'm so in love with books. I am often moved to tears by the beauty of great art. I wish wish wish I could spend my days reading and writing and doing nothing else. I'm crushingly depressed by having to go to work when I could be reading and writing. My entire existence is centered around becoming financially independent enough to retire to a small lodge in the mountains and read, write and pray my days away.

Anything to help me cope with this feel?