[OS X TeX] poetry packages

[Scot Mcphee]

On 22/08/2013, at 02:37 , Michael Sharpe <msharpe at ucsd.edu> wrote:

> 
> On Aug 20, 2013, at 11:21 PM, Scot Mcphee <scot.mcphee at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> I am looking for fairly easy to use poetry package. Anyone know of any? Especially one that that can print line numbers of the poem. I've tried verse and poetrytex but both are inadequate. The verse environment is too simple and poetry has a lot of options for a whole lot of stuff I don't need and nothing around those I do.
>> 
>> thanks
>> scot
> 
> I think you must have been speaking about LaTeX's native verse environment. The package by the same name is much more capable, and seems to do what you want. For example,


Thanks very much again Michael. The poetry package - rather than the environment - indeed does everything - and quite superbly I must add - that I need for the time being.

I have though found one interesting limitation of the package, that luckily doesn't affect me for the moment, at least. Namely: If I try to use it in a \documentclass{memoir} then any attempt at \poemlines{5} results in "undefined control sequence" in XeTeX (and also in plain LaTeX), even though the rest of it appears to work OK to at least some extent. However if I use \documentclass{article} all is fixed.

That's OK for this short form thing that I'm doing at the moment, but it will come unstuck when it comes to my thesis.

What would control or prohibit that operating properly in a memoir documentclass?

For future reference --- There are some interesting features of the package explained here http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/61173/how-to-introduce-line-numbers-on-specified-lines and the package documentation is here http://mirror.math.ku.edu/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/verse/verse.pdf

I've ended up with this:

\poemlines{5}
\begin{verse}
\verselinenumbersright
\setverselinenums{129}{130}
    Oceanum interea surgens Aurora reliquit.\\
    it portis iubare exorto delecta iuventus,\\
    retia rara, plagae, lato venabula ferro,\\
    Massylique ruunt equites et odora canum vis.\\!
    reginam thalamo cunctantem ad limina primi\\
    Poenorum exspectant, ostroque insignis et auro\\
    stat sonipes ac frena ferox spumantia mandit.\\!
    tandem progreditur magna stipante caterva\\
    Sidoniam picto chlamydem circumdata limbo;\\
    cui pharetra ex auro, crines nodantur in aurum,\\
    aurea purpuream subnectit fibula vestem.\\!
    nec non et Phrygii comites et laetus Iulus\\
    incedunt. ipse ante alios pulcherrimus omnis\\ 
    infert se socium Aeneas atque agmina iungit.
\end{verse}

the \\! separates the next stanza with some vspace.