Hal's answer is much better than mine,Max. I suspect Wikipedia might
help. Anyway, I dont know why they were there, nor when it became de
rigeur, but I do know that I felt terribly free when I realized that
the poetry that excited me didnt demand it. I am intrigued to see, in
some books today, poems that do side by side with poems that dont.
Just another convention, with all the power that implies....
Doug
On 15-Jun-09, at 3:12 PM, Max Richards wrote:
> A friend emails me:
>
>> a friend transcribing poetry has asked me about the convention that
>> was dominant for so long of capitalizing the beginning of each line.
>> she finds it very irritating and asked me why it was so. of course I
>> didn't have a clue, and feverish examination of my library was of no
>> help. (the earliest example of not doing it that I could find was HD
>> in 1916).
>
> I emailed him back a vague reply, then said I'd ask PoetryEtc,
> expecting a deluge
> of help.
>
> Max in Melbourne
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> This email was sent from Netspace Webmail: http://www.netspace.net.au
>
>
Douglas Barbour
Latest book: Continuations, with Sheila E, Murphy
(University of Alberta Press 2006)
Is that the flesh made word
or is that the flesh-made word?
Fred Wah
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