Petit, the Poet Theme of Dissatisfaction

Petit tries, and he tries, and he tries, but he can't get no satisfaction when he looks back at the poems he produced in his life. They were too much into empty forms, too vulnerable to clichés, to measure up to the work of the true masters. We might see "Petit, the Poet" as a kind of tragic tale, but that's just stinkin' thinkin', Shmoopers. A sunnier way to frame our speaker's dissatisfaction is to see it as helpful advice to budding poets and poetry-lovers: focus on life first and make your writing true and original. Worry about fancy forms and all that rot once you've got something to say that's worth saying.

1. Why do you think Petit focuses his criticism on particular kinds of poems, and not other poets themselves?
2. Could Petit's dissatisfaction with his poetry be linked to his dissatisfaction with his life more generally? Why or why not?
3. Do you think this final poem alleviates Petit's dissatisfaction at all? Why or why not?

Dissatisfaction is the only path to enlightenment. If Petit wasn't hating so much on forms and clichés, then he never would have discovered the key to true poetry.

Hating doesn't pay. Petit is dead, so he gains nothing in looking back at his life with dissatisfaction. He should just cheer up and enjoy the afterlife.