Line count

scheherazade · Jun 10, 2009

Silly, beginner question here... when tallying the number of lines in a poem (to describe it in a cover letter to a magazine) would this just include the number of text lines and exclude blank lines?

For example.. I have some lines that break at the end of the page and continue to the next line. Would those count as one line (one hard enter) or would I count them as the number of lines they occupy on my page (which may be different from how it will lay out in publication)?

Norman D Gutter · Jun 10, 2009

scheherazade:

Do not count blank lines between stanzas (call them strophes for free verse) as lines. Lines of text are what's important.

Lines that don't fit the width of the page and must wrap to the next line are not considered lines. However, if you have a lot of them, and want to rightly inform the potential publisher as to the space the poem will likely take in their publication, try something like this: "My poem is 20 lines in four strophes. Six lines are long and may require text wrapping."

Best regards,
NDG

scheherazade · Jun 10, 2009

Thanks...

So just to confirm, if my poem looked like this

my poem
has three
strophes

One very long one that just goes blahblahblahblabblahblahblahblahblabhalbblahblahblahblabblahblahblahblahblabhalbblahblablahblabblahblahblahblahblabhalbblahblahblahblabblahblahblahblahblahblahblabblahblahblahblahblabhalbblahblahblahblabblahblahblahblahblabhalbblahblablahblabblahblahblahblahblabhalbblahblahblahblabblahblahblah on one line

And one short one
That ends here.

That would be 6 lines in 3 strophes. Right?

Norman D Gutter · Jun 10, 2009

scheherazade said:
Thanks...

So just to confirm, if my poem looked like this

my poem
has three
strophes

One very long one that just goes blahblahblahblabblahblahblahblahblabhalbblahblahblahblabblahblahblahblahblabhalbblahblablahblabblahblahblahblahblabhalbblahblahblahblabblahblahblahblahblahblahblabblahblahblahblahblabhalbblahblahblahblabblahblahblahblahblabhalbblahblablahblabblahblahblahblahblabhalbblahblahblahblabblahblahblah on one line

And one short one
That ends here.

That would be 6 lines in 3 strophes. Right?

That's how I would count it.

Line count

scheherazade

Human

Norman D Gutter

Engineer Sonneteer

scheherazade

Human

Norman D Gutter

Engineer Sonneteer