ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

I was reminded by Marty Boyce's latest verse where he had included direct speech that I have from time to time wondered what the conventional protocols for writing direct speech in a poem might be.

I am not at all sure. Maybe there is someone out there who might offer some advice.

I have come across several instances where bush poetry comp judges have made pronouncements on the use of direct speech and their opinions are not necessarily consistent.

I have seen poetry where direct speech is marked by double inverted commas, I have seen poems where direct spech is marked by single inverted commas, and I have seen poetry where direct speech is not marked by any separate punctuation it just fits in with the rest of the verse. And all these examples are in top shelf poetry.

It's not a world shattering discussion, but I have wondered from time to time, what works best.

I prefer to show the distinctions ....


This is from a piece called "Affectionate Derision" ... just to get the conversation rolling ...
...
It’s Mick's turn to cook up a plump roasted chook
and started to look like it wouldn't get done.
So, impatient Dave, well he started to rave
and seemed a bit grave. (Oh, this looks like fun)
... this looks like a grave bit of fun!

"Now hang on a tic!" retorted our Mick.
"And don't be so thick! You just get on ya bike
ya dopey old cow and don't you tell me how
to cook up our chow or I’ll go on strike -
... and I’ll go on strike if I like!”
----

Hi Neville

In writing bush verse I usually use double inverted commas (mainly because they stand out clearly...see The White Ribbon in the Poetry section), but have also found italics handy on occasions for the same reason. With short stories and novels, the more common convention these days seems to be single inverted commas, although a number of writers (Tim Winton, for example) tend to omit all separate punctuation. Not mad on this idea.

In judging bush verse I'm with Manfred and prefer to see some punctuation...don't care whether it's single or double inverted commas or italics, as long as the direct speech is clearly indicated in some way.

It's also worth remembering that the official judging sheet includes a reference to punctuation, so anyone omitting it altogether in bush verse runs the risk of being marked down.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
David

Personally being old school I tend to use the inverted commas but on occasions I use italics and bold print which I reckon makes it much clearer but often wondered how judges would consider that.

as in - He said I often wondered how the judges would see that

Cheers

Maureen

Thanks for the replies Manfred, David and Maureen. That's useful.

Seem to remember learning at school that direct speech is preceeded by a comma then double quotation marks and followed by quotation marks (double inverted commas) at the close. Indirect speech (or quotation) is preceeded by a comma and a single quotation mark (single inverted comma) and a single quotation mark (single inverted comma) at the close.

I sometimes see exclamation marks not followed by a capital letter and wonder if this is correct.

Always amazed at the amount of punctuation contained the writing in older books and would still like an explanation for the symbol :-
Vic

or I happy, I sad, {..} I hear you

Vic, the modernist Australian poet and teacher, Mark Treddinick says, " It is still conventional to use a comma to introduce direct speech " ( Mark Treddinick ,the little green grammar book,UNSW Press 2009 ) and he also says " It is conventional to use the comma to move from direct speech to the words 'she said " or their equivalent, that reintroduce the narrative"
He doesn't mention the mark, :- but he does say that he finds hyphens " ugly and awkward "

G'day Neville and everyone,

It is, as someone (I think it was David) said, a matter of personal choice. However, I am inclined to want to use too many commas. I have even had a judges comment on one of my poems that I had excessively used the comma. It is, I believe, dependent on how you were taught when at primary school. Even when writing poems I have the urge to put in lots of commas, I think they make it easier to express exactly what you have in mind. Also, I use a lot of brackets, not in poems, but in general writing. If I look back on my posts I ca see this clearly. Do I need to be more aware of this and stop it?

Interesting Zondrae, I too (sometimes) feel I overuse brackets (moreso in general writing as well, not in poems). I've even found myself thinking 'oh perhaps that should be bracketed' to find I'm already writing inside a bracket, and you can't have (can you?) a bracket within a bracket (surely not?) As for the hyphen - the word is uglier than the punctuation mark I reckon . . . what about the elipsis (anyone?("bracket abuse!" calls the chair umpire) sorry )

Marty