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FallingAsleepTonight — lower_case
Published: 2012-11-28 04:34:11 +0000 UTC; Views: 1129; Favourites: 51; Downloads: 1
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Description
i have not read enough poetryand i am not one to muse
or maybe think
but i do have
a question
i am one student in a freshman course
who wonders
why so many poets use only
lower case
is it artistic
is it sexy
to write as if
you do nothing but whisper
i want to be loud
i want
the survivors of death
to remember me
i will not mutter
like a fetus
trapped
undeveloped
perhaps there is
nothing to this
technicality
but there is value
in knowing how to yell
and in absolute
silence.
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Comments: 38
Excellent, interesting. I might have chosen to put the word "absolute" in caps, but it's a technicality. Cheers!
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I was thinking of having something like that, since this poem does talk about the technical use of language, but I saw that the lower case "i" completes that purpose already.
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Your wonderful work has been featured in my journal: [link]
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your work has been featured here: [link] please go check out the other pieces & have a nice day
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I know it's a contestable issue, but I have lesser respect for poets who rely on eschewing conventional grammar to make an interesting poem. It's like dying your hair pink to be "creative."
The refusal to capitalize "I" and other proper nouns is a particular pet peeve of mine. It's such a time-locked postmodern cheaptrick mechanism. I can understand cases where a writer would refrain from capitalizing the first word in a sentence, like to convey the sense of whispering you mention in this poem. But... the words come first.
I hate seeing lowercase I's in professional litmags. A most dramatic facepalm ensues.
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Yeah, exactly! It should be a side note (if used) to any piece of writing at most
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personally, i use them an all lowercase aesthetic in most of my poems because capitalizing letters gives an inherent important to certain words (especially proper nouns, including the word "i") but there are cases where it makes more sense to use proper capitalization. it can be a very intelligent stylistic choice, and in this poem, especially, it added an interesting layer to your question.
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Yeah, I see that, but you also have some great poetry and it's obvious that you don't rely on any little gimmick
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haha, thank you. i will admit, i can usually tell the difference between "i thought this out & have rhetorical purpose" vs "i am throwing rocks at the style mountain until something happens"
which would be the case for most people who use no caps
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I think in lower case ...and I like the way it looks, uninterrupted, free even. I actually have to force myself to capitalizexD lovely work though, I never really thought about why. I just thought it was like choosing from chunky peanut butter or smooth.
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Annnnnnd, now I'm hungry
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me too, but I always am:>
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personally, i use all lower case letters because i feel as though it is more artistic. it draws attention to no word in particular - that's why structure is also really important.
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Yeah, I see where that comes from
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i dont know why things must be lower case.
maybe for the reason
is we dont wish to waste a second
on such a trivial thing.
maybe we are lazy,
or doom counters
or something.
but i guess
the answer
is different
for every person.
Maybe we should stop
Stop counting our last seconds
And enjoy the Present.
After all,
The Present is called the Present,
For a reason
Now that I think about it, it looks more pleasing to the eye capped XD
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happy to be your fellow jester, dear friend *bows*
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interesting point and excellent poem. i've gotten used to using all lowercase whenever i type, just because it's faster. however, my poems will come to me in either lowercase or uppercase or a mix of the two. it's just how i see them and hear them in my head.
i think since i started instant messaging and such, the frequency of the lowercase has increased. i also think that i use proper case and grammar if i want to make the poem seem more formal rather than some conversational, cracked-out work, if that makes any sense
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Yeah I get what you mean
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very good poem
I write I. lower case cause I'm to lazy to change it to upper case
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Absolutely stunning... and a very, very good question!
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I really dislike people not using uppercase in words where you clearly need it there. I'm not exactly sure how the mechanics of a poem works for upper and lowercase, but I assume words like "I" and that start a new thought need to be capitalized. You did bring up an interesting point though, that I will more than likely consider later on in time.
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Yeah, I know what you mean
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the question of upper and lower case is a really interesting one. I see poems with excessive upper case and poems with no upper case. I wrote a poem once in entirely lower case (probably more than once now), but I had a few people really bashing it for the lack of upper case letters. And I'd intentionally used all lower case to make it as simple and unadorned as possible, so that the only focus was on the poem's story - not sentences and semantics. I find I use all lower case when I'm in more pensive moods and I don't want specific words to draw more attention to themselves than others, if that makes sense.
I like your poem, though. I hope my ramble wasn't tedious - I found the idea you were commenting suddenly mentally stimulating heh. ^^
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No worries, I just think that, like any literary device, if you're going to break some rules or bring attention it better be for a useful purpose.
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same. I haven't read enough poetry myself to be an expert. this is just what I have thought of in thinking and writing myself.
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Any art expertise I have just comes from being human. It's sort of like when you hear something off-key in a song and it makes your head hurt.
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yes, it is that exactly. Sometimes it's notes, sometimes it's a line of a poem. Almost anything. If it's not quite right, you can feel it, even if you can't put a name to it.
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