This is a subject that can be
interpreted widely, and one on which I will expect much
criticism,
response, and
opinionated
reasoning.
As is commonly known, the
poetic art form started out as an
oral tradition. This created a
catch twenty-two, as nothing is capitalized in the spoken word. This may send shudders through the spines of
grammar gods, but never fear because capitalization stems from the necessity to
emphasize particular words or phrases on paper that were accented by the speaker that the stories were taken from. All of the thought, timing, and organization in
stories was done with
singer's voice; the full stop of the
period, the pause of the
comma, the excitement of the
exclamation point, and the
emphasis of the
capital.
Based on the
establishment of the poetic form as noted above, it is
inherent that
punctuation and capitalization in poetry varied as much as the poet that wrote, or sung it. Because of these varieties, it is common place for
editors and
publishers not to look for the following of specific
guidelines, but for them to look for a standard formatting within the artist’s works. This way of looking at an author's works was brought about by
E. E. Cummings at a time when there was a formatting standard being developed. It was he that aided in stopping that
trend.
Once again, not to dash the
spirits of the
grammar loving, it is necessary to point out that there has been a recent movement amongst publishers to bring about a standard for poetry known as "
modern usage."
Modern usage, as I understand it, can be set to seven standards for capitalization:
Capitalize the first word of a sentence. (This applies even if the start of the sentence is in the middle of the line.)
Capitalize the first letter in every line of a poem. (This applies even if the first letter is not the start of a new sentence.)
Capitalize the major words in a title.
Capitalize
proper nouns (names), including
adjectives derived from proper nouns.
Capitalize personal titles (
President,
Reverend,
Captain,
Mr., and
Mrs.) only when they refer to the person or place.
Capitalize major words in
abbreviations.
As a last word, I include a quote from
Stephen Willhite, Editor for the CAMBIO Journal.
"Poetry has undergone a transformation in its known existence, and this can be said of the poetry in cultures world-wide, which more than any other art form encapsulates and epitomizes the metamorphosis of human creativity. This encompasses a lot, (like the entire history of humanity) however with regard to this article, it is enough to realize poetry has gone from a rigid and socially-managed use of language (in terms of authority), to a melee of words confined only by the imaginations of the poets themselves."
Perhaps it is best left to the imagination of the author?