Beta Release Version 0.5
FAQ
Q: What is the beta release?
A: This version of the software is currently free and is released for testing and user feedback purposes, reporting of bugs and gauging the level of interest in the software.
Q: I've registered, will I have to pay?
A: Upon the full launch of the software, there will be a free version of Poetiks (which doesn't allow saving of poems and has limited features). If you have registered, we will email you to ask whether you would like to subscribe to the paid service Poetiks Plus (the funding model for which has not been decided yet). This will enable you
keep your saved poems and access them.
Q: How long can my poem be?
A: There is no actual limit, although a hundred line poem starts to slow down the processing and your computer power may have an effect on the speed of the software.
Q: Does it work for languages other than English?
A: Poetiks is currently on available for modernised English language poems.
Q: Can I store my poem?
A: During the testing phase, users can save worked poems for free. However, we do not guarantee to preserve these poems indefinitely. Major changes to the database, for instance, will require us to delete users’ poems. The commercial release, Poetiks Plus, will back up users marked poems, but the free version will not allow them to be saved at all.
Q: Doesn’t this make reading poetry into a soulless, mechanical business?
A: As teachers, we believe passionately that understanding poetry better only enhances the magic of it. While a poem can cast a spell on us, it can just as easily be seen as a miracle of verbal micro-engineering. We want to enable readers to get the ‘trainspotting’ element of poetic analysis done quickly, so they can get on with the feeling and thinking that only a human brain can do!
How to use Poetiks
Getting Started
1. Click on ‘New’ to in order to paste a poem (CTRL+V or CMD+V) that you have copied (CTRL+C or CMD+C), into Poetiks. You can also type it in from a book source. It should be in regularised modern English with as much formatting stripped out as possible. Beware that poems transcribed on the Web may not be accurately transcribed.
2. Poetiks then analyses the poem, breaking it down into syllables. Click on the ‘Rhythm’ tab at the bottom of the page (if it is not already selected). You’ll see that fixed stresses are already identified by black marks - / for stressed and x for unstressed syllables. (Note to experts: secondary stresses are rendered, for simplicity’s sake, as full stresses.)
3. Now read the poem out loud to help you ‘get’ the rhythm. Speak it slowly and emphatically. If you’re not confident about scanning, record your own reading on your phone – your first reading will usually be right! The more you think about it, the harder it gets… Reading the poem together with a few other people will also help, as you will fall into rhythmic unison quite naturally. Click on the words that need stresses, according to your reading. They will appear as blue /.
4. Once you’ve scanned the main stresses all the way through, click on ‘Fill unstress’ to add blue x over all the unstressed syllables. You should by now be able to see roughly how many stresses per line there are, which will begin to indicate the metre. It will almost always be 4, 5 or alternating 3/4, or, rarely, a multiple or fraction of 4 or 5.
5. Once you know how many stresses per line there should be, you can go through the poem again promoting unstressed syllables or demoting unstressed syllables. These will appear as orange / and x. As a generalisation, if there are three unstresses in a row, promote the middle one to make /x/x. If there are three stresses in a row, demote the middle one. 4-stress metres tend to be more emphatic and less flexible than 5-stress. Every reader needs to find her own balance between the regularity of the metre and the requirements of stress for proper emphasis.
6. You’re done with the scansion! You can now see how it interacts with patterns of imagery and sound, using the other two layers. By selecting words and pressing 'Add Note' allows you to describe the pattern and write about it.
