Funny that I had a similar reaction—that in my creative writing degree I had to write to expectations from my workshops which were unlike my own expectations for poetry—but that I felt it wasn't a waste of time because it taught me that I needed to write the way I write irregardless of what 12 people said each semester.

Writing with music (anaphora, refrain, alliteration) makes me happy and I learned it wasn't worth writing without them just to please workshop and other people critiquing my work. That is my voice, even if no one else delights in it.