How to structure and style large poetic productions

The presentation of poems can take various styles and forms. Unlike prose, the structure of a poem adds additional meaning through indentations, line breaks, caesuras, spacing, and even the shape of the text. Here is a guide to help with some of poetry’s less intuitive formatting.

Table of Contents

Splitting files

A single collections file
Multiple files

Modernizing poetic works

Modernize prose frontmatter and backmatter
Modernize poems carefully!
Modernization exceptions

Hyphenations and spacings
Mismatched diacritics
Unusual pronunciations
Eye rhymes
Uncommon contractions
Archaisms

Unusual formatting

Verse paragraphs
Caesuras
Dropped lines

Splitting files

Unlike prose, short poems are not placed in individual files like chapters. The rule of thumb is to split poetic productions by the highest-level division(s) possible. A production can result in a single collections file of an author’s short poems or multiple files for longer poetic works, like long narrative poems, that have main divisions.

A single collections file

For most poetry collections, they utilize a single collections file that contains all of an author’s short poems, ordered by date of publication. If the collection is made up of multiple books, you don’t need to group the poems by the books’ titles. This file is named poetry.xhtml and has a <title> element with the value Poetry.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" epub:prefix="z3998: http://www.daisy.org/z3998/2012/vocab/structure/, se: https://standardebooks.org/vocab/1.0" xml:lang="en-US"> <head> <title>Poetry</title> <link href="../css/core.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/> <link href="../css/local.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/> </head> <body epub:type="bodymatter z3998:fiction"> <article id="imitation-of-spenser" epub:type="z3998:poem"> <h2 epub:type="title">Imitation of Spenser</h2> ... </article> <article id="on-death" epub:type="z3998:poem"> <h2 epub:type="title">On Death</h2> ... </article> ... </body> </html>

Multiple files

In the world of poetry, long narrative poems are a unique form of expression that often use books or cantos as the main divisions, serving a similar purpose to chapters in a novel. These divisions are placed in their own individual files. These files have both chapter and z3998:poem semantics.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" epub:prefix="z3998: http://www.daisy.org/z3998/2012/vocab/structure/, se: https://standardebooks.org/vocab/1.0" xml:lang="en-GB"> <head> <title>Book I</title> <link href="../css/core.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/> <link href="../css/local.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/> </head> <body epub:type="bodymatter z3998:fiction"> <section id="book-1" epub:type="chapter z3998:poem"> <header> <h2> Book I </h2> The Trojans, after a seven years’ voyage... </header> ... </section> </body> </html>
Modernizing poetic works

Do not run se modernize-spelling . on poetry projects. Because changes can affect the rhythm of poetry, we generally do much less modernization than for other projects, so words like “to-day” and “some one” wouldn’t be modernized as they usually would be.

If you’re not sure about whether it makes sense to modernize a specific word, please ask on the mailing list.

Modernize prose frontmatter and backmatter

Prose elements, such as poem titles, dedications, prefaces, and endnotes should have spelling, hyphenation, spacing in select words modernized as normal. See the step “Modernizing Spelling and Hyphenation” in the Step by Step guide.

You can target specific files with the se modernize-spelling tool.
se modernize-spelling src/epub/text/preface.xhtml se modernize-spelling src/epub/text/endnotes.xhtml
Modernize poems carefully!

The se modernize-spelling tool can modernize word spellings without dehyphenating words, but for poetry you must still carefully review each change to ensure it does not affect the sound of the line.
se modernize-spelling --no-hyphens src/epub/text/book*
Modernization exceptions

While there are no set guidelines, it’s worth noting that there are certain situations where it is advisable to preserve the original spelling. To help with this, here’s a list of specific scenarios where modernizing the spelling may be incorrect.
1. Hyphenations and spacings
 
 Hyphenations and spaces in poetry are fundamental elements that contribute to the visual and auditory experience of a poem. Hyphenations can serve to emphasize certain syllables or create rhythmic patterns within lines. The placement of spaces can influence the pacing, tone, and meaning of a poem. Together, they convey the poet’s intended message or evoke certain emotions in the reader. Modernizing spelling can erase a poet’s intended styling.
 
 If a poetic work is translated from its original language, dashes can be normalized.
 se find-mismatched-dashes .
2. Mismatched diacritics
 
 In the realm of poetry, diacritics play an important role. They are utilized for multiple reasons, such as marking stresses on less common syllables, clarifying emphasis in cases where the distinction is metrically significant, or indicating the pronunciation of typically silent letters.
 
 The se find-mismatched-diacritics tool will flag these for review. Make sure to verify that the diacritics match the source scans.
 
 ... The wingèd hounds of Winter ceased to bay. The stupor of a doom completed lay ...
3. Unusual pronunciations
 
 In poetry, a perfect rhyme scheme is sometimes achieved by using archaic words that may have a different pronunciation from their modern counterparts. This technique enables the poet to maintain a consistent rhyme pattern throughout their work.
 
 In the example, se modernize-spelling will want to change “sate” to “sat” and “shew” to “show”, but these words are not sound-alike changes.
 
 ... Where Dankwart with his yeomen still at the table sate; There rose between the heroes a strife of deadly hate. ... Shone never on a braver scene than that. Here was a prison, there a Man who sat ... The flowers de luce, and the sparks of dew That hung upon their azure leaves did shew ... Its solid truth seems change to undergo; Its largest square doth yet no corner show ...
4. Eye rhymes
 
 In some cases, a poet is unable to create a perfect rhyme, resorting to an eye rhyme. An eye rhyme, also called a visual rhyme, is when two words are spelled similarly but pronounced differently.
 
 In the example, the poet uses the obsolete spelling of “die” to create a visual rhyme.
 
 ... The beasts we daily see massacred dy ... And men themselves do change continually, ...
5. Uncommon contractions
 
 Poetry often employs uncommon contractions that are considered as an essential part of its style. These contractions are best left unchanged.
 
 ... Thanks, i’ faith, for silence is only commendable ... That he is constant; for i’faith I swear, ... Stand to ’t (quoth she) or yield to mercy: ... I have bound thee to’t by death. ...
6. Archaisms
 
 Some poets use archaisms to imitate very old or antiquated styles of English spellings to make the work seem older.
 
  The Patron of true Holinesse Foule Errour doth defeate; Hypocrisie, him to entrappe, Doth to his home entreate. 
Unusual formatting

Poetry is a diverse art form that offers a wide range of distinctive types, each with its own unique visual appeal. In fact, poetry can take on various unconventional formats that add to its artistic charm. Below are some uncommon formatting styles you may come across while producing a poetry production.

Verse paragraphs

In poetic composition, some authors opt to use stanzas of varying length. While traditional poetry forms such as sonnets and haikus have a set structure, free verse poetry allows poets to experiment with different stanza lengths. To visually differentiate between stanzas, some poets choose to remove the blank space between them and instead indent the first line of each subsequent stanza (excluding the first stanza). This technique serves a similar function to paragraphs in prose.

With a clever CSS selector, you don’t need to add the i1 class to each stanza. To remove spacing between stanzas, delete [epub|type~="z3998:poem"] p + p{ margin-top: 1em; } that’s provided by the SEMoS.

 O Goddess! Sing the wrath of Peleus’ son, ... And great Achilles, parted first as foes. Which of the gods put strife between the chiefs, ... Of Atreus, the two leaders of the host:⁠— ...

[epub|type~="z3998:poem"] p + p > span:first-child{ padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -1em; }

Caesuras

In poetry, a caesura is a pause or break in a verse that marks the end of one phrase and the beginning of another. This pause can be expressed by a large space and is used by poets to create a rhythmic effect in their work.

In the files, wrap each phrase in a  element inside of the  element that represents the complete verse line.

 To us, in olden legends, is many a marvel told Of praise-deserving heroes, of labours manifold, Of weeping and of wailing, of joy and festival; Ye shall of bold knights’ battling now hear a wondrous tale. 

span > span + span{ margin-left: 1.5em; }

Dropped lines

A dropped line is a stylistic technique in which a single line of verse is divided into two or three distinct phrases. This technique is similar to the use of caesuras, although it differs in that the breaks do not appear in every line, and the phrases themselves are separated by line breaks rather than a large space.

If a line of text is broken into more than three phrases, you should use the classes i1, i2, i3, etc. for indentation.

When dealing with two separate phrases, the parent  has a class="dl2" attribute.

... Rooms in the house for sleeping. The old men And ladies slept within the mansion. Thaddeus Received command to lead the younger men ...

.dl2 span:first-child{ vertical-align: 100%; }

In the rare case that a line is broken into three phrases, the parent  has a class="dl3" attribute.

... But blow one blaring trumpet note of sun To go with me to the darkness where I go. ...

.dl3 span:first-child{ vertical-align: 200%; } .dl3 span:nth-child(2){ vertical-align: 100%; }

How to structure and style large poetic productions

Splitting files

A single collections file

Multiple files

Modernizing poetic works

Modernize prose frontmatter and backmatter

Modernize poems carefully!

Modernization exceptions

Hyphenations and spacings

Mismatched diacritics

Unusual pronunciations

Eye rhymes

Uncommon contractions

Archaisms

Unusual formatting

Verse paragraphs

Caesuras

Dropped lines