Contentment

[Joshua Smith]

Beginning each line with a cap is an affectation that has fallen by the wayside with modern printing techniques. It is of course still used in academic textbooks because that was how it originally appeared. It serves no purpose today. However, to someone in school studying such poetry it may appear it is still in vogue. It is not. I used to do the same thing as no one tells you that it is no longer used. Another reason not to use it is it makes the reading more difficult as each line appears to start a new sentence.
In school I read a lot of the English Romantics which of course had the lines capped and so I thought that was the way it should be. I eventually realized it was not and so I dropped it. Of course it wasn't easy as I was accustomed to that style. After fighting that and other conventions I had picked up in school I eventually moved into the current age

Just thought I'd point that out.

This year's Poetry Issue for February features Angela Jackson's "More Than Meat and Raiment".  There are even recent Nobel laureates whose published works will incorporate this affectation into their work.  Even in contemporary poetry today there are those, who are heavily lauded for their work, that find it has purpose for them and some others around the world.  There is no doubt that line capitalization is much less common, but it does seem to have a place in today's poetry beyond appearances in academic textbooks.  
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On the "conceal issue. It is either "skies conceal" or "sky conceals". That might help clear up some the problematic nature of the line.

The tempestuous clouds are doing the concealing.  There is a substantial distance between the subject of conceal and conceal's placement in the poem.  The misplaced modifier is intentional, and it is not the only grammatical mishap by the narrator (we are talking about a flightless bird going off to fly).  I realize that my usage is grammatically incorrect, but I was still anticipating the majority would be able to infer the link between "clouds" and "conceal" through alliteration, using them both as sequential end line words, and the logic that clear skies tend to conceal less than dark clouds. 


Although I am a proponent of brevity, sometimes cutting too much can obscure, such as in the line:

"I, no longer bound to ground,
Nor vile bog, or dank mire"

alternative:

"I am no longer bound to the ground
vile bog or dank mire. "

The "no longer bound to ground, nor vile bog, or dank mire" is a nonessential appositive phrase. The verb "Confound" is tied to "I".  


The "no longer" continues to apply to the entire sentence, so the "nor" is redundant.

Hopefully the redundancy is abundant. Some of the other instances are: stormy/tempest, stormy tempest clouds/thunder clouds, ground/bog/mire, foolish/fools, boorish/boors, and solace/peace. Plus, some of the lines repeat or rephrase already established concepts.  This piece use to have "nor" three times.


As this is basic I probably have gone on too long, so I shall stop.

best,

dale

Thank you for the information and the points which you brought out.  I am glad that you read this, and am even more pleased that you decided to comment.