Writing Text Poetry

The text composer

The composer is where written poems are made. Open it from the compose button on the Stage, Compose in the sidebar, Poem in the More menu, or the Library's Create section. On a computer, the composer is laid out in tabs: Content, Details, Appearance and Settings.

Content

Title

Required. This is how your poem appears in feeds, search results and lists.

The poem

Write in Standard mode (rich text) or Advanced mode (plain text with line numbers). There is no minimum or maximum length, but a published poem does need a body.

Templates

If you've chosen a form, the composer can help you lay the poem out to fit it, with the form's usual style, rhyme scheme and meter filled in for you.

Details

• Form: Sonnet, Haiku, Free Verse, Villanelle, Ode, Ghazal, Ballad and many more.
• Style: Contemporary, Classical, Romantic, Confessional, Experimental and others.
• Meter and rhyme scheme: optional craft details for formal work.
• Tags: free-form words such as "love", "grief" or "city" that help readers find your work in search.

Appearance

Set a background colour or image, a text colour, a font and alignment, and optionally a soundtrack from the sound library. See "Presentation Settings" and "Using Custom Fonts".

Content warnings

After you publish, Stanza checks new work for sensitive themes such as grief, trauma, violence, strong language, substance use or sexual themes. If it finds any, it may add a content warning and will let you know. Readers then see a gentle warning before the poem opens, and can choose which themes they'd rather not see in their feed.

Settings

• Privacy: Public, Followers, Friends, Groups (a circle) or Private. See "Privacy & Visibility Levels".
• What readers can do: comments, reactions, margin notes, adding the poem to their lists, and translation. See "Permissions on Your Work".
• Post anonymously: hides your name from readers. You can still see the poem on your own profile, and Stanza still knows it's yours for safety reasons.
• Schedule publication: pick a future date and time. See "Scheduling Posts for Later".
• Language: leave it on auto-detect, or set it yourself.
• AI involvement: say whether AI tools were used to create or assist with the piece.
• Search engines: for public poems, you can allow search engines outside Stanza to index the poem.

After you publish

Your poem has a short settling period (currently 30 minutes) for final touches to the title and text. Then the text locks, and margin notes and critiques open. Privacy, permissions, warnings and appearance stay editable for good.