Why does a poet start every line of the poem with small letter instead of capital letter?

Question

Why does a poet start every line of the poem with small letter instead of capital letter?

Answer 1

because the lines of a poem are not complete sentences, simple as that lol

Answer 2

Annabelle is right that this convention is quite recent (at least in terms of literary history). There are plenty of contemporary poets who still capitalize at the beginning of each line. Also, to say EVERY line starts with a small letter is not accurate. Perhaps that is nitpicking, but in poetry, such small points do matter.

And I hate to pile on and answer a question with a question, why do so many people assume that poetry much contain such conventions as capitalizing the first line (or not) or that all lines must rhyme?= It drives me nuts when my students operate under such assumptions because doing so hurt their chances to enjoy good poems.

Answer 3

The standard rule of thumb is this:

If the start of a line is also the start of a sentence then it should be capitalized. If the start of a line is a continuation or a sentence then it shouldn't be capitalized.

Examples from a poem:

So much in love was I, at one time,  

that no cloud dared claim it’s birthright to

hover above,

no stone ever

turned upward to obstruct my journey

and angels large and small blushed from

the path I took.  

From a different poem:

Would their words aim towards a broader sight?

Would they express anger at the plight

of oppressed people, of greed’s forced pain,

hypocrisy’s evil and war’s gain,

or nature’s demise — worlds gone insane?            

(You'll notice the second line in this stanza is capitalized because it is starting a new sentence.)  

And here is a third example:

The guns spell money's ultimate reason

in letters of lead on the spring hillside.

But the boy lying dead under the olive trees

was too young and too silly

to have been notable to their important eye.

He was a better target for a kiss.

(However, in most modern poetry by modern poets, many of the old rules are cast aside for creative effect and the poet sort of makes his or her own rules. This is more often the case with free verse.)

Answer 4

Not capitalizing the beginning of a line is relatively recent. In traditional poetry, the first word of every line was always capitalized. Look at this facsimile of Shakespeare's sonnets (click on the page numbers):

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/emls/Sonnet...

Not capitalizing the first words of every line is a 20th century practice. Good article here about this subject:

http://www.public.asu.edu/~aarios/resour...

Answer 5

It could be as ninini said, or it could be a stylistic decision. (Take ee cummings, for example.)