Copyright for poems with unknown authors - Writers Forum

CaliWave81 · 01-20-2006, 05:25 PM

Hello, everyone,

I am working on writing a non-fiction book and I have one chapter that is a memoriam section. There are a few poems I would like to use but I don't have the authors' names, so I don't know if this work is in public domain or if I have to write to the author to get their permission to use their works. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks in advance.

~CaliWave81~

Mike C · 01-21-2006, 08:25 AM

try googling the first line of the poem inside quotes (ie "There was a young man from Wigan"). That almost always will pick up the poem and give you a source. But first line, not title. Titles sometimes get left off or changed.

CaliWave81 · 01-21-2006, 11:05 AM

I did try this but I came up with so many sites that had the same poem. I don't know what to use as a source.

mammamaia · 01-21-2006, 05:21 PM

sites aren't a 'source'... you need to find the name of the original author... try a library of congress search... or british library, if the piece might not have originated in the us...

post it here... one of us may know it...

love and hugs, maia