so skip
so skip
I think that you have stated a 'reason' for capitalization and that is fine with me. There should be a reason for doing it and not just a default way that is carried over from an earlier time. I find that I don't mind it in the older stuff because it is expected. In the newer work that I read I find myself asking why it is there and if there doesn't seem to be a reason, it is annoying. If there is a reason that is discernible, I'm good with it.
There is no life I know
To compare with pure imagination.
Living there you’ll be free
If you truly wish to be.~ Willy Wonka
Good grief! A dozen posts on this tired old saw! Must be a slowwwwww day at the office. Would anyone care to count the individual panels in a roll of toilet paper? But we're poets, dammit! . . .we can do anything we want. I think I'll start a post re-introducing "zounds!" and "forsooth!" as expletives . . . .
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"I believe in nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections and the Truth of the imagination". Keats, Letters
"No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main . . . any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls -- it tolls for thee. " John Donne, Meditation XVII
But aren't there other pacing devices when writing poetry to achieve that effect? Maybe it only applies to free verse but when I see a a capital letter at the beinning of a line I assume it's a new thought not a continuation of the previous line. So I stop. Reread the previous line to check I've understood the meaning correctly. It doesn't slow me as a reader it actually takes me out of the poem. I don't find this so much with more traditional, rhyming and metered forms because the brain has probably been conditioned to scan the poem in a different way
True. Do we write poetry to try and engage a reader or our own pleasure?
It would be futile to generalise. Some people write to explore, others to demonstrate skill; trends in presentation change.
I find it useful to read eclectically; so although I prefer poems to start lines with lower case letters, I read a variety of styles and would not dismiss a poem I have glanced at without reading.
And why not? If they work for the poem, they work for the poem. I occasionally use 'ne'er' in metered poetry even though it's a bit archaic, because sometimes you need it for proper syllable count.
It's really good for me to be aware of this kind of thing because it's different from how I read poetry. Capitalization doesn't take me out of a poem, usually. But since I write to be read, I'm willing to bend on this relatively minor point, unless the poem looks very wrong lowercased. I've slowly adopted lowercasing, at least in free verse, simply because it throws people off less.
In my mouth, if there be sweetness,
It has come from my Creator;
If my hands are filled with beauty,
All the beauty comes from God.
~ from The Kalevala (paraphrased)
Whom have I in heaven but You?
And earth has nothing I desire besides You.
~ Psalm 73:25
Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling on Death by death,
And on those in the tombs,
lavishing light.
Thoughts by Walt Whitman offers an interesting selection of punctuation
but then you have great poets like Dylan Thomas and Sylvia Plath who capitalize the first letter of every line. Then we have talented young poets such as Ocean Vuong
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poe...h-burning-city
who has a completely different style
and The Water Replies by Luke Kennard
Maybe the poet crafts the words and formatting and the reader decides which style they prefer when its printed on a the page?
Ponderous
and Clark the teeth of your circular saw may be blunt and well worn but to those of us still exploring poetry we look at the discussion with fresh eyes and a new set of teeth
We learn through discussion and, while capitalization annoys me, I find it interesting to explore other POVs![]()
Last edited by PiP; December 8th, 2020 at 10:48 PM.
Arrow-- Touche (how d'ya do an acute accent?), my young marksman/woman! Touche! Your more forgiving shaft hit my calcified gut with unerring accuracy. Actually, I meant not so much the practice as the overtalking ABOUT the practice.
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"I believe in nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections and the Truth of the imagination". Keats, Letters
"No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main . . . any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls -- it tolls for thee. " John Donne, Meditation XVII
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