All Questions
241 questions
0
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58
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Writing Verse vs Immitation for Strengthening Verbal Skills
My verbal skills seem very weak. Often, I cannot write flowing, rhythmic prose, if ever. But I know I succeeded at least once in the past, although in a very short piece, which is not published, is ...
user25421
2
votes
1
answer
69
views
How to format a dialogue with quotes of poetry?
I'm working on a typeset of Dorothy L. Sayers' novel Clouds of Witness. Sometimes the characters will quote poetry when they're speaking:
'Hurray!' said Peter.
'Then downwards from the steep hill's ...
- 23
1
vote
3
answers
174
views
When the rhyme scheme is ABAB, can A=B or is that insanity?
Hear me out. My default answer is no, no it cannot. The very definition of a rhyme scheme requires that the different letters represent different rhyming sounds. However, in every standard definition ...
- 11
0
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0
answers
54
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Publishing a book of poetry: Which resource to choose?
I have been writing poetry for a long time, and I had an idea of publishing my works (I did so twice in the past, but in Russian, so it was a different experience). I have a number of works on ...
1
vote
2
answers
149
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Ghosted by literary magazine?
I recently got published for the first time in a literary magazine for my poem. They're not very big, but have a considerate readership which is alright as a first for me.
Anyway, this said magazine ...
- 11
1
vote
1
answer
42
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How do I punctuate a long character story in a poem structured with stanzas?
Indenting without quotes won't work because it will be a children's book with stanzas on different pages. It is a character telling a story with very few "he said" included...most of it is ...
- 11
1
vote
0
answers
55
views
What's the difference between Arabic prosody and English rhythm?
I don't understand English rhythm and its law; and see English poems and still nothing. However some poets like Edward Fitzgerald have poems based on Persian (Arabic) prosody and I get its rhythm but ...
- 11
0
votes
1
answer
73
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Using unusual grammatical wording to refer to people
All that will die tomorrow
Is whom I loved and will still love
So I was wondering if this is a common thing in poetry. You refer to people as "all that", and then use whom, which creates a ...
user36239
0
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2
answers
156
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Is stating a completely false fact something many writers do?
Is stating a completely false fact something many writers do? I heard that doing so is considered to be poetic license and it allows poets to deviate from strict adherence to factual accuracy in order ...
user36239
0
votes
4
answers
434
views
Why do artists make grammar mistakes in their songs?
I would be deeply grateful if you answer my question. I'm currently writing my thesis about standard and non-standard English grammar and the main problem of my work is why artists make grammar "...
Magda Šudák
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1
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27
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Formatting poetry collection and formatting standards
What does the industry use? I thought about just copy pasting the lyrics into a file format and then appending them in one file, but I am wondering if most publisher use some kind of software to put ...
user36239
2
votes
2
answers
116
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Is poetry written along the known song legal from the view point of copyright?
I wrote some (humorous) poetry that uses a known song as a pattern. The poetry could be sung instead of the original words of the song but I do not have any musical background to perform such a ...
- 173
1
vote
2
answers
130
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Unsure how to go about referencing/paying homage to a thematically similar text
I'm currently on the fourth draft of my novel and am at the stage at last of getting to go sentence by sentence and approach things on quite a molecular level. My book is a sci-fi reimagining of the ...
1
vote
2
answers
120
views
Is it possible to adapt ancient graeco-roman prosodic styles, forms, principles, modifications into modern verses?
Is it possible to adapt ancient graeco-roman prosodic styles, forms, principles, modifications into modern verses?
Does anybody know good authors who write in vernacular or modern languages with greek ...
JTR777
6
votes
3
answers
738
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What is this called? Using one word that has a one meaning but then is given new meaning in a subsequent clause or sentence
This is done in songs and I'm sure it's done in poetry too.
For example, in the song Gray and Blue by Jaymay, she sings, "I'm with another boy (he's asleep, I'm wide awake) / And he tried to win ...
- 163
0
votes
3
answers
103
views
Versification of a drama
I have originally written a drama in prose. However, now I am considering writing it in verse. Thus, I have the following questions:
1.) Is this common practice (writing drama in verse)?
2.) Is there ...
- 111
1
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0
answers
50
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Commas/clauses within Haiku phrases?
I am experimenting with Haiku.
My sentiment is "I used to count the minutes until we next met, now I count the days since you left".
I first looked at something like:
Glad minutes until
Our ...
- 273
0
votes
2
answers
71
views
What kind of poetry do people respond well to?
I'm a poet who is starting to publish my work, and I would appreciate advice on whether poems about very personal experiences, particularly though not always negative ones, are going to be well ...
0
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1
answer
91
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Can I publish a collection of poetry that alludes to other authors such as Shakespeare and Wordsworth without violating copyright?
I am a teacher. My students want to self publish their work as a collection of poetry and short stories.
Some of their assignments were to allude to other works and authors—like Wordsworth or ...
- 3
1
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0
answers
53
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Where can we publish our poetry preprints?
I have some poems and want to share them on the internet, and am checking if there are some repositories like what we have for scholarly works (for example, arXiv is for mathematical preprints).
I ...
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1
answer
133
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Does this poem stand up to the rules of poetry? [closed]
This is pretty much my first poem(I think this counts as one), about a tentacle monster keeping a schoolgirl asleep in a dream. It is titled 'The Beast From The East' Here it is:
"THE TENTACLED ...
- 325
1
vote
1
answer
62
views
How do you use a heavily poetic style while also using a formatting that's similar to that of modern novel?
How do you use a heavily poetic style while also using a formatting that's similar to that of modern novel? Is there a way to add a poetic spin to the modern formatting seen in novels that was ...
user36239
0
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How do you format a poem inside of a novel?
How do you format a poem inside of a novel? I am not sure how to go about it. What are some popular ways of introducing a poem inside a novel.
Let's say that the character reads a poem from a small ...
user36239
1
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5
answers
2k
views
Does a sonnet have to follow a standard rhyme scheme?
I wrote a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter consisting of two rhyming couplets followed by ten lines of blank verse. Would it be accurate to call this a sonnet?
- 181
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2
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38
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Which sentence is correct? How is variety created in these sections (of a song)? or How is variety created between these sections (of a song)?
When describing the variety or contrast evident in a song we can compare the song sections. Variety adds interest to the song. We ask how is one section different to the next?
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4
votes
1
answer
102
views
Is there a term describing two poems that start simultaneously or in succession?
I am studying a poem called Unbearable Weight of Staying by Warsan Shire. It includes regular type and then indented, italicised type e.g
I don't know when love became elusive.
My mother's laughter ...
2
votes
1
answer
66
views
Can I reference italics in academic writing?
I am analysing a poetry collection for college and one poem is 'Unbearable Weight of Staying' by Warsan Shire. She includes both regular and italicised type in the text, e.g:
I don't know when love ...
1
vote
1
answer
200
views
Is it considered to be a bad thing to use idioms in poems?
There are words that are considered to be weak like: spirit, heart, love, sublime, because they tell and don't show, so I am wondering what about idioms such as "dead in the water", because ...
user36239
0
votes
2
answers
116
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Use of unconventional punctuation
https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/ellipses.html
I thought it was an ellipses, but ellipses only typically have three dots. Are there good use cases or is there a good justification to using four ...
user36239
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0
answers
145
views
Is there a situation where you shouldn't omit the article (a, the) in lyrics?
Is there a situation where you shouldn't omit the article (a, the) in lyrics? Sometimes, you have 1 syllable you want to remove on a line, so you remove a or the, but sometimes doing so modifies the ...
user36239
2
votes
1
answer
47
views
Would using poetry to represent a character's dreams be viable?
In a couple of my writing projects I have used poetry to represent the dreams of the POV character. That way some of the content of the dreams and hopefully some of the emotion/feeling of the dreams ...
- 1,121
1
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2
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214
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Expressing the intensity of an emotion by showing and not telling
I get how you can "show" for example the story of a woman who is sad by merely describing the stars in the sky, but how do you describe the intensity of her emotion in a poem? I think you ...
user36239
-2
votes
1
answer
124
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Can specific metaphors be interpreted or meant to be interpreted in a vaguer and more general way?
A boat of heaven shed roses.
A boat of heaven is a symbol of the female genitalia. Shedding roses means she bled and lost her virginity, but can we still use the phrase to simply mean "loss of ...
user36239
5
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Do poets care about the meter when writing for the first time?
I wonder if poets write their verses in the correct meter at first or if they review it later after writing it just to express their thought. I'm not sure if it's possible for someone to be as ...
- 161
0
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1
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94
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Does show and don't tell mean something different in allegorical poems as opposed to novels, movie script, etc?
Can you write a love poem by showing and not telling and only describing the landscape? I am thinking you need to make it allegorical, but without mentioning animals and humans and clothes, etc, just ...
user36239
0
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1
answer
237
views
Does punctuation within lines necessarily indicate a pause or a caesura?
I am not an expert on poetry but I was wondering whether punctuation necessarily indicates a caesura. For instance, when reading some poems, I instinctively ignore commas within lines due to the fast-...
- 103
0
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0
answers
801
views
Can you help me understand what a "lyrical short story" is?
What are the minimum requirements for a lyrical short story to be a story? If it is plotless what separates the lyrical short story from random chatter?
- 53
3
votes
3
answers
649
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What is the minimum requirement for a song to be considered a story?
I can't figure out if my songs are stories since they don't contain a climax, multiple characters, or a resolution.
For example is this song a story? It lacks conflict and climax and resolution but it ...
- 53
1
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0
answers
42
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Is Hyotan Rozu or Calabash Rose a bad publishing name? [duplicate]
Opening question got too long so I shortened it drastically, I like the name calabash rose as a publishing name but it struck me as gimmicky so I played around on google translate a bit and settled on ...
- 11
1
vote
2
answers
132
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Is it a bad habit to omit conjunctions in poetry?
When writing a verse for a song a lot of times I find it easier to sing if I leave out function words (demonstratives/conjunctions). Is this a bad habit? It seems to cause lack of clarity but I see ...
- 53
0
votes
1
answer
126
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Why do I lose focus and direction in my songwriting?
Today while writing my song, every line seemed to fight me. It seemed to wander without direction. I don't always have this problem but would like to figure how to avoid writing songs that wind up ...
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0
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2
answers
109
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Trouble finding two-syllable and three-syllable rhymes (or near-rhymes) for "eld" as in "field"
I am using The Complete Rhyming Dictionary, edited by Clement Wood, as a reference as I work through a poem.
I can't tell if my search is not thorough enough or if there is a shortage of this ...
- 207
2
votes
1
answer
123
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How to write metered poetry, when you can only read 'phonetically'?
I have dyslexia, and when I pronounce words in my head the syllable count and stress doesn't reflect the way the words are pronounced in everyday speech. I think you might describe it as phonetic ...
- 945
2
votes
1
answer
37
views
Paragraph break in poetry
I am translating an essay on translation of poetry. In this bit: Allegria di naufragi (Joy of Shipwrecks, 1919), established what remains for many people the quintessential Ungaretti poem: short lines,...
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0
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1
answer
125
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Are there any strict requirements for classifying a rhyming word?
I'm trying to write a yadu:
Nude, tall and blue,
Yellow's new love,
...
Here, I'm trying to create a rhyme for the word blue with the word new but I'm wondering if the lack of the L sound in new ...
- 145
4
votes
1
answer
141
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Is a reference to the seasons required when writing a yadu?
I’m learning about different rhyming schemes and forms of poetry from around the world, and one that intrigues me a lot right now is the yadu:
The yadu is a Burmese climbing-rhyme verse. Each of the ...
- 145
1
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3
answers
214
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A word for a free-form poetic sentence
I'm looking for a word or poetry genre to describe a short free-form lyrical and poetic sentence, verse, or paragraph.
Something like "free form Haiku", but without any rules like number of ...
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-1
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2
answers
893
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How long does a poetry book have to be?
I'm currently working on a poetry book which is meant to be short in length.
To help be gauge how much material is required, what is the norm for the length of a medium-format (A5 page size) book of ...
- 11
0
votes
2
answers
91
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How do you preserve emotions in a poem?
I am just another person who writes poems to vent out emotions. I discovered that the amount of emotions that I feel my poem has during the time of writing, slowly evaporates away. When I re-read it ...
- 103
-2
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1
answer
122
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Are real English words trivial to poetic language? [closed]
I have been writing poetry for a short time now, and many times I had the urge to use a word that isn't in the English language, but expresses my feelings in the clearest way.
