Help:Editing poetry on Wikisource
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| ←Style guide | Style guide (Poetry) |
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}}This page outlines style guidelines related to poetry.
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Sectioning
In a Wikisource page containing a single poem, no sectioning commands should be used. In a Wikisource page containing multiple discrete poems, such as Hebrew Melodies, each poem should be preceded by a top-level section heading giving its name, or its first line (or metrical foot) sans terminal punctuation, like this:
==Sun of the sleepless== Sun of the sleepless! melancholy star!
Whose tearful beam ...
Sun of the sleepless
Sun of the sleepless! melancholy star!
Whose tearful beam ...
If a single poem is divided into numbered stanzas by the original author, then those stanzas should be indicated with the {{stanzabreak}} template. If the poem is divided into stanzas without numbers, then each pair of stanzas should be separated with a blank line:
==Uninspired Parodies==
{{stanzabreak|I}}
The aeroplane's alight<BR>
With twinkle bulbs and neon.<BR>
I tell you, that's a flight<BR>
I'd rather see than be on.<BR>
{{stanzabreak|II}}
To sow a field you do not need<BR>
To know your [[w:cotyledon|cotyledon]] –<BR>
Instead of study ere I seed<BR>
I'd rather seed and be done.<BR>
Uninspired Parodies
- I
The aeroplane's alight
With twinkle bulbs and neon.
I tell you, that's a flight
I'd rather see than be on.
- II
To sow a field you do not need
To know your cotyledon –
Instead of study ere I seed
I'd rather seed and be done.
Indentation
Many poems have indented lines. Because indentation can result in fairly ugly code and be quite bulky, a template has been created to serve the purpose of indentation (see Template:Indent). The usage is quite a simple procedure:
{{indent|0}} And oft by yon blue gushing stream
{{indent|2}} Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
{{indent|0}} And feed deep thought with many a dream,
{{indent|2}} And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–
{{indent|2}} Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!
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}} And oft by yon blue gushing stream
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}} Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
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}} And feed deep thought with many a dream,
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}} And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–
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There are a few things to note about this usage:
- If {{indent}} is to be used on any line, it must therefore be used on every line, or the spacing will be erratic and not as the contributor intended.
- The number of spaces to indent is given by the number after the pipe (e.g.,
{{indent|2}}will indent a line two spaces). - No
<br>line breaks need to be added, as that is taken care of in the template.
Remember, that the indentation is to help preserve the original indentation scheme given by the poet. But a good rule of thumb is that in most cases, no more than three indentations will be needed on any line (otherwise the text will be very far to the right).
Line numbering
For long works (more than a few dozen lines) without numbered stanzas, it is extremely useful to add line numbers to the text for the convenience of those readers who wish to cite particular lines or passages. No really good standard for this kind of markup has emerged on Wikisource yet, so here is the method I have become accustomed to using: Each fifth line is marked in a small blue font, to the right of the end of the line (so as not to interfere with the indentation). Each fiftieth line, in long works such as Hellas, is additionally marked with an HTML anchor to facilitate direct linking. For example:
... If night is mute, yet the returning sun <small><font color="#0000FF">295</font></small><BR> Kindles the voices of the morning birds;<BR> Nor at thy bidding less exultingly<BR> Than birds rejoicing in the golden day,<BR> The Anarchies of Africa unleash<BR><span id="Hellas300"></span> Their tempest-winged cities of the sea, <small><font color="#0000FF">300</font></small><BR> To speak in thunder to the rebel world.<BR> ...
If night is mute, yet the returning sun 295
Kindles the voices of the morning birds;
Nor at thy bidding less exultingly
Than birds rejoicing in the golden day,
The Anarchies of Africa unleash
Their tempest-winged cities of the sea, 300
To speak in thunder to the rebel world.
Notice that the HTML anchor is positioned on the line before the fiftieth; notice again the extra spaces around the entity, which move the line number some distance away from the text of the line itself.
Punctuation
Punctuation is always tricky. In general, most poems are designed to be grammatical, so if you find a passage like
If that high world, which lies beyond
Our own, surviving love endears
If there the cherished heart be fond
The eye the same – except in tears
How welcome those untrodden spheres!
you can be reasonably certain that it's missing a few key commas and semicolons, and perhaps some dashes. At that point, it's time to check the Wikisource text against an authoritative print edition, or take a representative sample of online versions and compare their punctuation styles.
It's virtually assured that no two online versions will use the same punctuation; many of them don't even get the words right! Whether dealing with punctuation or wording, it's worth knowing the principle of lectio difficilior potior ("the more difficult reading is the stronger") — for example, many online sources falsely "correct" the word hath to that in Byron's "Oh! weep for those." Thus, I prefer punctuation styles replete with semicolons and dashes (at least for Romantic poetry), and am leery of sources containing a large number of commas, since a comma might indicate a "devolved" semicolon, colon, or dash.
Dashes
When formatting pre-1900 poetry, I prefer to use the "British" dash style: the shorter en-dash (–) where an American would typically use the longer em-dash (—). In fact, I distinguish between the two dashes as follows: The en-dash indicates a grammatical pause, while the em-dash indicates a break or sudden stop in speech, independent of English grammar.
"I don't understand," said the inspector. "In fact—"
"Don't you see?" exclaimed George. "I'm trying to tell you – Darlington is a gorilla!"
Notice that the exclamation point, being part of the exclamation italicized for emphasis, is also italicized. This is true for question marks as well, but not for any other punctuation, such as periods or commas.
Many poets of the Romantic period were fond of using dashes in conjunction with commas, periods, or colons. In such cases, the en-dash should follow immediately upon the heels of the other symbol, with no space, like this:– or this,– unless the symbol is an exclamation point or question mark.