Help:Poetry
Formatting
[edit]Line indentation and linebreaks
[edit]There are three methods for formatting poetry. {{Ppoem}} (for Proper Poem) automatically does most of the formatting. Wikisource also includes a built-in poem extension, invoked by <poem>, that allows for simple formatting. Alternatively, it is possible to specify each indent and line break manually. Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages. The poem extension is simple to use but limited, manual formatting leaves the most freedom for special cases, and Ppoem (the most recently-designed) brings some of the advantages of each.
Ppoem
[edit]{{Ppoem}}'s default settings are tuned to common poetry formatting conventions, and through its minimal and straightforward syntax it can handle many common formatting issues, so it can be easy for beginners and serviceable for more experienced editors. It is believed to be relatively stable and suitable for most common poem usages. The template uses Lua (with Scribunto).
It keeps the line breaks, and two line breaks make a stanza break.
Colons (:) at the beginning of lines are transformed into one em-long gaps (this wide: ).
It has a hanging indent of 4em by default.
For example,
{{ppoem|
Earth's parched lips
:Drink coolness once again, for daylight dies.
The young moon dips,
:A threaded gleam where sunset languid lies,
:And slowly twilight opens starry eyes.
Low in the West
:Day's fading embers cast a last faint glow
Behind a crest
:Where curving hills on primrose paleness show
:Sharp-lined in jet. Dusk stillness broods below
}}
renders as
Drink coolness once again, for daylight dies.
The young moon dips,
A threaded gleam where sunset languid lies,
And slowly twilight opens starry eyes.
Day's fading embers cast a last faint glow
Behind a crest
Where curving hills on primrose paleness show
Sharp-lined in jet. Dusk stillness broods below
For poems continuing on multiple pages, the start and end parameters control how sections join up. The value of the end parameter at the end of a page should match the value of the start parameter on the following page. Parameter values can be: open/close (which is the default), follow, stanza and same-line:
- For the first section, use start=open (or omit the parameter)
- For a section that ends on a stanza, use end=stanza, and start the next one with start=stanza
- For a section that doesn't end on a stanza (so the next section continues in the same stanza), the first section sets end=follow and the next uses start=follow.
- For a line that continues onto the next page, the first section sets end=same-line and the next uses start=same-line.
- For the last section, use end=close (or omit).
It means that for a simple poem that contains only a single section on one page of a text, it is unnecessary to use the start or end parameters at all.
Poem extension
[edit]A software extension on Wikisource simplifies indentation and linebreaks. Wrap a poem inside <poem> tags; the linebreaks and indentation will be displayed as it is typed. A colon (:) at the beginning of the line will indent the line 1em. For example, see this code and how it renders:
<poem> And oft by yon blue gushing stream :Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head, And feed deep thought with many a dream, :And lingering pause, and lightly tread,– :Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead! </poem>
will render as:
And oft by yon blue gushing stream
Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
And feed deep thought with many a dream,
And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–
Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!
Spaces between verses within <poem> tags will be rendered as two line breaks (<br /><br />) instead of a paragraph break. Lines within these tags will not wrap if they exceed the width of the containing block. If you wish to avoid these behaviours, use direct formatting as described below.
The <poem> tag cannot be used across page breaks, and must be terminated on one page and re-opened on the next (i.e. not used in the header or footer of a page). If a stanza break coincides with a page break, <br /> can be used to ensure correct formatting on transclusion (e.g.):
Page one:
<poem>
…
Stanza one.
<br />
</poem>
{{nop}}
Page two:
<poem> Stanza two. … </poem>
Direct formatting
[edit]The alternative is to use {{gap}} or {{em}} and <br />. The {{gap}}'s default size is 2em, but, can be configured with a size parameter. It is recommended to use em as the unit for the size parameter:
And oft by yon blue gushing stream <br />
{{gap}}Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head, <br />
And feed deep thought with many a dream, <br />
{{gap}}And lingering pause, and lightly tread,– <br />
{{gap|4em}}Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!
will render as:
And oft by yon blue gushing stream
Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
And feed deep thought with many a dream,
And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–
Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!
This style can use any other formatting template, for example:
{{block center|{{smaller|And oft by yon blue gushing stream <br />
{{gap}}Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head, <br />
And feed deep thought with many a dream, <br />
{{gap}}And lingering pause, and lightly tread,– <br />
{{gap|4em}}Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!}}}}
will render as:
And oft by yon blue gushing stream
Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
And feed deep thought with many a dream,
And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–
Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!
Note that {{block center}} accepts style= parameters, so that it is possible to create the same effect with fewer templates. For example, the use of {{smaller}} in the previous example can be achieved by setting the style as
{{block center|style=font-size:83%|And oft by yon blue gushing stream <br />
{{gap}}Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head, <br />
And feed deep thought with many a dream, <br />
{{gap}}And lingering pause, and lightly tread,– <br />
{{gap|4em}}Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!}}
See the documentation for {{block center}} for additional information.
Centering
[edit]Typeset poems are often centered on the page, but retain left alignment. This is hard to achieve with "normal" formatting ({{center}} will center each line separately).
Ppoem
[edit]With Ppoem, text is block-centered and aligned (by default at the left, can be changed with align).
The template also has a special markup, that contains <>, and >>, that respectively center and right-align a line or stanza when put at the beginning.
Example:
{{ppoem|
Earth's parched lips
:Drink coolness once again, for daylight dies.
The young moon dips,
:A threaded gleam where sunset languid lies,
:And slowly twilight opens starry eyes.
<>
Low in the West
:Day's fading embers cast a last faint glow
>>Behind a crest
:Where curving hills on primrose paleness show
:Sharp-lined in jet. Dusk stillness broods below}}
renders as
Drink coolness once again, for daylight dies.
The young moon dips,
A threaded gleam where sunset languid lies,
And slowly twilight opens starry eyes.
Day's fading embers cast a last faint glow
Behind a crest
Where curving hills on primrose paleness show
Sharp-lined in jet. Dusk stillness broods below
Center block
[edit]Use {{center block}} (CSS formatting) or {{block center}} (table formatting) to align a manual poem to the center as a block:
{{center block|And oft by yon blue gushing stream<br />
{{gap}}Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,<br />
And feed deep thought with many a dream,<br />
{{gap}}And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–<br />
{{gap}}Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!}}
will render as:
And oft by yon blue gushing stream
Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
And feed deep thought with many a dream,
And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–
Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!
If you choose to use block formatting with <poem> tags, it is suggested that the <poem> tags be placed inside the block formatting template. For example:
{{center block|
<poem>
And oft by yon blue gushing stream
:Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
And feed deep thought with many a dream,
:And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–
:Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!
</poem>
}}
will render as:
And oft by yon blue gushing stream
Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
And feed deep thought with many a dream,
And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–
Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!
Note: This style of formatting does not work well where the poem spans multiple pages as the width of the block is based on the width of the longest line (or page if the line wraps). To achieve alignment across multiple pages, the start and end are controlled by {{Center block/s}} and {{Center block/e}} in main. See documentation for instructions.
Line numbering
[edit]For long works without numbered stanzas, it may be useful to add line numbers to the text for the convenience of those readers who wish to cite particular lines or passages. No single standard for this kind of markup has emerged on Wikisource yet.
Ppoem
[edit]With Ppoem, line numbers can be put at the end of a line with >>> (add to end of line), and to the left with <<< (insert at beginning of line). For example:
{{ppoem|
1 <<<Earth's parched lips
:Drink coolness once again, for daylight dies.
The young moon dips,
:A threaded gleam where sunset languid lies,
:And slowly twilight opens starry eyes. >>> 5}}
gives
Drink coolness once again, for daylight dies.
The young moon dips,
A threaded gleam where sunset languid lies,
5 And slowly twilight opens starry eyes.
Pline
[edit]One method is to mark each fifth line in a small green font, to the right of the end of the line (so as not to interfere with the indentation). Each line number also includes an HTML anchor to facilitate direct linking. For example:
<poem>
…
If night is mute, yet the returning sun{{pline|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,{{pline|300}}
To speak in thunder to the rebel world.
…
</poem>
will render as:
…
If night is mute, yet the returning sun295
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.
…
Note that the line numbers are a few spaces after the end of the line. The numbers can also be aligned to the left or right of the page (or block, if it is within one) by adding the r or l parameter to the {{pline}} template.
{{block left|<poem>
…
If night is mute, yet the returning sun{{pline|295|r}}
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,{{pline|300|r}}
To speak in thunder to the rebel world.
…
</poem>}}
will render as:
…
If night is mute, yet the returning sun295
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.
…
CSS Styles
[edit]This is often very useful when the poem is among text within a book, or when there is a centered title.
Ppoem
[edit]CSS properties (see Help:Page styles) can be added to the whole poem with style.
On the other hand, {MyClass} at the beginning of a line/stanza will apply the class ws-poem-MyClass (there are predefined classes, and custom ones can use Page styles) to that text. Example:
{{ppoem|style=color:#006666|
{smaller}
Earth's parched lips
:Drink coolness once again, for daylight dies.
The young moon dips,
:A threaded gleam where sunset languid lies,
:And slowly twilight opens starry eyes.
{larger}Low in the West
:Day's fading embers cast a last faint glow
Behind a crest
:Where curving hills on primrose paleness show
:Sharp-lined in jet. Dusk stillness broods below}}
renders as
Drink coolness once again, for daylight dies.
The young moon dips,
A threaded gleam where sunset languid lies,
And slowly twilight opens starry eyes.
Day's fading embers cast a last faint glow
Behind a crest
Where curving hills on primrose paleness show
Sharp-lined in jet. Dusk stillness broods below
(Here, the colour is from style and the size differences are from the {class} notation.)
Poem extension
[edit]Note that in this situation it can be useful to add CSS styling to the poem tag. For example smaller text would be coded:
<poem style="font-size:smaller">text text text</poem>
{{block center|<poem style="font-size:smaller">
And oft by yon blue gushing stream
:Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
And feed deep thought with many a dream,
:And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–
:Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!
</poem>}}
will render as:
And oft by yon blue gushing stream
Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
And feed deep thought with many a dream,
And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–
Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!
Or code the style directly into the {{block center}} template using the style= parameter. See that template's documentation for examples.
Note: usage of <span> templates with <poem>, e.g. {{smaller}}, will cause a so-called Lint error (flagged in Special:LintErrors as a misc-tidy-replacement-issues div-span-flip, see [1]).
Although not recommended vs. the alternatives above, if this kind of formatting is applied, a <div> template shall be used, e.g. {{smaller block}}.
Prefer:
{{block center|{{smaller block|<poem>
And oft by yon blue gushing stream
:Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
And feed deep thought with many a dream,
:And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–
:Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!
</poem>}}}}
And oft by yon blue gushing stream
Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
And feed deep thought with many a dream,
And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–
Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!
over:
{{block center|{{smaller|<poem>
And oft by yon blue gushing stream
:Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
And feed deep thought with many a dream,
:And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–
:Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!
</poem>}}}}
And oft by yon blue gushing stream
Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
And feed deep thought with many a dream,
And lingering pause, and lightly tread,–
Fond wretch! as if her step disturb'd the dead!
Floating quotation mark
[edit]Some poems use a "floating" quotation mark (or any other character) which is at the beginning of the poem, but does not necessarily belong in the block of text. For example:
"My boast is not that I deduce my birth
From loins enthroned, and nobles of the earth;
Far higher, far, my proud pretensions rise,
The son of parents passed into the skies."
To achieve this, use the {{Floating quotation mark}} (short version: {{Fqm}}) template:
{{block center|<poem>
{{Floating quotation mark}}My boast is not that I deduce my birth
From loins enthroned, and nobles of the earth;
Far higher, far, my proud pretensions rise,
The son of parents passed into the skies."</poem>}}
Note: This template can be used to float other characters with various sized gaps. Please see {{Fqm}} for usage instructions.
Naming different versions
[edit]See Naming conventions for more information on naming.
Poems often have ambiguous titles or are referred to only by their w:en:incipit; different versions also require disambiguation.
- Versions. If multiple editions of a text are hosted here, link those to and from the {{versions}} page.
- Disambiguation. The titles of poems are frequently ambiguous, different works with the same title should be linked from a {{disambiguation}} page. This is usually a poem by a different author.
- Titles. Poems can be created using the 'plain title' for the page's name, or distinguished from similar titles by year or author in parentheses. Adding a poem as a subpage of the work is preferable, the advantages of which increase with the degree of complexity and ambiguity.
- Redirects. Create redirects of title variations to the poems title or a versions page.
Any combination of these should assist a reader to find a page
- The Raven and Other Poems/The Raven (1845 ed.)
perhaps one of several versions
- The Raven (Poe) (versions page)
amongst the works with similar titles
- The Raven. (disambiguation page)
Use the header and its notes section to show the authority of a version, detailing the primary source, and the talk for expanded discussion of the text.
Creating a table of contents linking poems with plain titles should be avoided. The situation arises where the same poem is presented as appearing in two or more versions, perhaps a revised edition, and a misleading reference.
Poems often appear in a number of variations, perhaps significant, inclusion of these variants is left to the discretion of the contributor. Later contributions to poetry hosted by Wikisource may be derived from different sources, however, all documents at the site should identify their source precisely.
Text integrity is best maintained by using original scans, as described in help page, most poems are easily available in a number of variants. A complete book scan, even if only partly transcribed, is verifiable, easily corrected, and provides direct access to the source. The remaining contents of the scans can be easily finished by other contributors.
Assistance in uploading and preparing scan indexes, and with subpages, is available.
Summary:
- Find a scan or other authoritative source for the poem. Create a version of the work as a subpage of a volume. Link it to similar titles. Ask for help and examples, if needed.