DISCLAIMER: this post is tongue in cheek...

I wonder if lightning is going to strike Carol dead, not for the lack of headgear, but for the recent lightening of her emphasis on correct spelling?

(sorry, had to do it!)

(music)

My wife wears wild hats for pizzazz, even though she's completely bald, which I find cool.

Shameless O'Clawson

During Jane Austen's Day, it was an accepted Convention to capitalize all important Nouns. As Time passed, this Convention was dropped, probably because it was Exceedingly Silly (and is only used today for certain kinds of humor).

I tend toward the no capitals for each line side of the debate, though I have capitalized and not capitalized. With certain enjambment, it does throw me or trip me up. But I think that the convention itself is in a state of flux. So who knows if it will stay, gradually fade out of use, or be revealed as Equally Silly.

My bad, bear. Didn't even see it.

http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/ubbhtml/redface.gif

Hey there!

Just a quick note to thank you for starting this thread, Clive. And thanks to those of you who've contributed here.

My two cents:

Though I've learned to control the apoplectic fits I used to fly into upon encountering initial capitals, I'm still not wild about them. Perhaps because I tend to read stuff (and even write stuff) aloud.

True, those ol' initial capitals just sit there on the page, but I've got great peripheral vision; can kinda see 'em sneaking up on me. And I tend to lower the pitch of my voice (as one would approaching a period), even though that may not be what's called for.

And when I find that I've totally screwed up, that I've lowered my voice midsentence/midstream and have to begin again, I get all choked up and crabby. Ha! Not a pretty sight, believe me!

I'm the type who truly enjoys reading a poem over and over and over, but not because it's difficult to read correctly.

I agree on the "fashion-angle."
Initial capitals were all the rage once-upon-a-time.
But fashions change.

I suppose if one is writing a sonnet chock full of archaic language, one might want to go with the archaic-look of initial capitals. But otherwise, I really don't see the point.

Want people to want to read your stuff? Make it smooth/enjoyable for 'em! Ensure that any extra time the reader takes going over your poem has to do with fascination with the language you've used and/or the story/message you're attempting to tell/convey, not head-scratching, eyeball-rolling over misplaced capital letters.

Okay. That's it. Hope I haven't made anyone mad. As always, please keep in mind my newbieness and ignore any and all idiocy accordingly, eh?

Thanks again for a very interesting/informative thread Clive ! And everyone!

Happy week!

---Pua

I have to wonder how
Many would use
Caps if word programs
Did not insert them,

I know it drive me batty taking them out when entering a new line..

jejejeje

I was JUST about to post that word processors are responsible for the return of initial caps, Joan beat me to it.

There's 2 ways to fix it:

1: use preferences to disable initial caps on lines

2: use shift/enter to make a new line (this also allows paragraph-level formatting to be applied to each verse as a separate unit)

(music)

Bear beat me to it. Nobody needs to be bullied by a word processor unless he wants to be, but sometimes we have to crack our whips and assert our authority over the darned things to keep them on their pedestals.

Bear, es la segunda vez que has escrito jejeje. ¿Hablas castellano, o sólo cuando te ries? http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/ubbhtml/smile.gif

Carol

[warning: Infodump ahead!]

Capitalising initial letters goes back a long way and
may predate the poetic linebreak. Early middle age texts sometimes mark the beginning of a line by a colour change or capitalisation (linebreaks wasted vellum). Maybe we should keep the Caps and get rid of the linebreaks.

The Uk's Simon Armitage write something about initial capitals balancing the final rhymes. He also said that they were like the fire-escape staircases in New York (?)

Now that we've all trashed Capitals, let me say a few words in their defense.

There is one very good reason for beginners to use initial capitals. They force the author to think more carefully about the integrity of lines as lines. I have often remarked that poets ought to consider line and stanza as analogous to sentence and paragraph. The challenge of writing a good formal poem is, at least in part, the difficulty of synchronizing poetic and syntactical forms. Initial caps encourage a disciplined approach to the fashioning of lines.

Note to Robert Swagman: ballad measure may override the objective of "paragraphing" stanzas. It is difficult to switch themes cleanly time after time in a long ballad.

A.S.