Must I, I'll, I'm always be capitalized in a poem?

I have often used i, i'm, etc without capitals. I've had poetry published in journals this way. artistic license.

It's poetry. You can capitalize anything or nothing as you choose.

I probably would capitalize the pronoun in most cases, unless I had a good reason not to, but don't get caught up in rules. The only real rule is what you as the poet need the language to do for you.

Given that it's poetry, all rules are out of the window. That said, I can't imagine why you'd want to; it doesn't affect the rhythm, which is surely the most important thing?

This question reminds me of "Archy and Mehitabel."

Archy was a cockroach who wrote stories and poems by jumping around on a typewriter. Because he was unable to push two keys at once (being a bug and all), he was unable to use the shift key, so his compositions were written completely in lowercase.

The "Alot" comic assigns it to a similar issue, imagining that an eagle is typing with its claws.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

I'd say do whatever you want. You're in good company.

There are poems where I don't capitalize "I", there are poems where I do capitalize "I", and then there's a poem where I start capitalizing "I" more and more toward the end, to show the narrator's growing sense of identity and fulfillment.

It all depends on the poem. I tend to capitalize it more in formal poetry (sonnets, vers libre, etc.) and I capitalize less when I write prose poetry and vignettes. Those aren't hard and fast distinctions, but it's definitely the trend.

It's a poem, you can do as you wish. Personally, when I see an "I" that isn't capped, it throws me enough to yank me right out of that poem. If that is the effect you are going for, then it's useful. If your wish is to make some other sort of point, it might not be effective.

It's a free world--do as you see fit. But when this question comes up for me, I check the name on my driver's license. If it doesn't say 'e.e. cummings,' I sigh and use the caps.

It depends. using a small i was once all the rage. Then someone realized all the poetry that did this was horrible. Now it's very, very tough to get a small i past an editor.

Marlys said:

It's a free world--do as you see fit. But when this question comes up for me, I check the name on my driver's license. If it doesn't say 'e.e. cummings,' I sigh and use the caps.

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So are you planning to get some fake ID?

It would make me think of E.E. Cummings. He was famous for his unconventional approach to capitalization.

I never really saw what a lack of capitalization adds to a poem, but I tend to like poetry most when I hear it read. But if there's some effect you're going for that requires the lower case, then why not? I'll defer to folks who read poetry more than I do

If there is a good reason to do it, then why not?

If there isn't a good reason to do it, then why?

As others have said, it can be done, it has been done, it's a little old hat. If you can work around those provisos, then it's available. You would need to convince your readers that it is effective and not affectation.

e. e. cummings wouldn't have capitalized, but he rarely, if ever, capitalized anything.

The real issue, as has been mentioned upthread, is Why? One way or the other, what do you hope to gain by doing something irregular? Which is not to say you can't or shouldn't do something unconventional, just to ask the reason for doing so.

"It feels cool" is a pretty lame reason, IMO.

caw

blacbird said:

e. e. cummings wouldn't have capitalized, but he rarely, if ever, capitalized anything.

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Sometimes for emphasis, as with "Only The Game Fish Swims Upstream".