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Text File | 1993-01-24 | 20KB | 482 lines

                                     PoeTrio

        COPYRIGHT 1991 by Chatfield Software

                            Chatfield Software, Inc.
                                  P.O. Box 115
                               Hiram, Ohio 44234
                     [phone] or [phone] (USA)

        Poetrio is a commercial educational software product which sells
        for $20.00.  We offer it to you on the "honor system" basis known
        as SHAREWARE, which means that you can decide after trying it
        whether you wish to buy it and continue using it.

        If you decide to continue using PoeTrio, please use the registra-
        tion form at the end of this documentation to remit the $20.00
        price.  You will receive a BONUS disk, writers' tip-sheets, a 10%
        discount on other Chatfield Software products, and 800# technical
        support.
                                       ***

        PoeTrio derives its name from the fact that it is a trio of
        educational poetry programs: one for free verse (CATALYST), one
        for syllabics (HAIKUKU), and one for an original verseform called
        the CANTONA.  One purpose of the package is to demonstrate that
        poetry can be written in ways other than rhyme and meter.

        Each of the three programs has its own verse editor, so that
        after the instructional task is completed the program retains
        value as a verse processor.


        Getting started

        Getting started with PoeTrio is very simple: place your diskette
        in the drive, and at the prompt enter the word GO (use no punctu-
        ation; on some computers you'll get better results by entering
        GO2).

        Writing Poems

        For the most part, the only actual rule to be observed in writing
        poems is: in responding to prompts do not use commas or colons
        (try other punctuation, like the dash).  Perhaps it should also
        be a rule that you try to have fun and also that you write poems
        that you believe others will think are fun to read.

        Using the Editors

        When you are finished with the first draft of a poem, the comput-
        er asks whether you now want to write another poem.  By saying no
        ("N") you tell the computer that you do not want just now to
        write another poem in that same form or prosody.  The computer
        takes this to mean that you either want to quit or want to work
        on the poem you have just written.  So the computer either takes






        you into the Editor or (in some programs) allows you to quit.  In
        the Editor you have the choice of going to the main menu where
        you can select another kind of poem, work with your poem, or (in
        some programs) quit the session.  There are several ways you can
        work on your poem:

                  You can print it with your printer.
                  You can change one or more lines (one at a time).
                  You can have another look at it.
                  You can delete a line (if the form or prosody  permits
                      you to remove lines).
                  You can save it on a diskette.
                  You can do several or all of the above.

        These editing operations are, for the most part, self explanatory
        following the prompts.  Saving to disk can be a little tricky.
        The best way to save a poem is to have a blank, formatted disk-
        ette which you use for that special purpose.  When you go to the
        Editor to perform any disk operations, it is wise to remove your
        PROGRAM DISKETTE and replace it with your DATA DISKETTE. (In
        CATALYST and CANTONA, you can go directly to the editor at the
        outset by typing "ED" when you are asked if you want instructions.)
        You should also be aware that:

            1.  The RETRIEVAL subroutine will try to retrieve any poem
        you name from any editor, irrespective of its original form or
        prosody.
            2.  You must not have commas or colons in any line you are
        saving on disk (even if they came from the computer in the first
        place!), or everything after the comma or colon will be lost
        ("truncated").

        So you see, playing with the DISK SAVE feature of the editor is
        not kid stuff.  Be careful.  Think.

        NOTE!

        It is helpful to remember that if you make mistakes while you are
        writing any poem you can fix them later by going into the Editor
        and rewriting the incorrect lines.  So be patient with your own
        mistakes.  None of them has to be permanent.

        THE CANTONA

        The cantona is a form invented by Hale Chatfield specifically for
        a group of middle school students from Stark County, Ohio.  Its
        name evokes an Italian word for song (canzone), the name of the
        Ohio city where it was first used (Canton), and the Provencal
        form upon which it is a variation (sestina).  It is difficult,
        because words are repeated very often and in very close proximi-
        ty.

        Using the Program

        Suggestions







        Pick interesting words!  A cantona is mighty dull when it's based
        on three dull words like "is," "and," and "the," but consider the
        possibilities of "collision", "star," and "forever" or "tomato,"
        "amazing," and "erupt."

        Be willing to allow yourself some flexibility in repeating your
        words.  Are you willing to allow "erupts" as a repetition of
        "erupt"?  What about "erupted"? Or "star's" as a repetition of
        "star"?  You must make these decisions yourself: you are the
        poet!

        It takes a long time to write a cantona, and you may not have
        time to finish.  You can save what you've written on a diskette
        by entering a string of x's or asterisks (****) in the blank
        lines remaining.  When you want to finish the poem, write an
        entire blank poem in the same manner (all x's or asterisks) then
        go to the Editor section of the program and choose "Retrieve" to
        work on your earlier unfinished poem. (You will need to know the
        name you gave it when you saved it on the diskette.)

        Examples

        This is the example used in the program itself:

                                    BIRDS IN SUNLIGHT

                  Slicing the air they catch fragments of sunlight;
                  we watch what these tiny shapes do
                  celebrating distance.  We know they are birds

                  but at that height we don't see them as birds--
                  rather as some kind of effect.  What the sunlight
                  and the sky itself have decided to do

                  this morning.  And what wonderful things they do--
                  the flickering; the flashing--identifiable as birds
                  only in brief moments; more often chips of sunlight

                  or of sky.  The birds (giddy out of character) do
                  improvisations.  Sunlight approves; and we smile too.


        CATALYST

        Using the Program

        Suggestions

        When you use the "NO" or "PART" options in producing a line, you
        naturally want to be surprised.

        Try mixing your options among the options "YES," "NO," and
        "PART."  It is often hilarious to have the computer write the
        whole poem (by selecting "NO" at each option), but the best poems






        need your creativity.  After all, you are the poet!

        Try writing a long poem of matched stanzas.  You just choose a
        stanza size (two to ten lines) and write a series of poems that
        same size--keeping them the same in subject or theme.  These
        individual poems become the stanzas of your larger poem.  (In
        Italian, stanza means "room."  So in a poetic kind of way, each
        of the little poems is a room in the house or the castle of your
        bigger poem.  Maybe each one can have its own special purpose--
        they can be like kitchens, dining rooms, bedrooms, or even at-
        tics.)

        Comments on the Terminology

        As we all know, the subject of a sentence is a noun--or some word
        or group of words presently functioning as a noun.  Likewise the
        verb of a sentence is made up of verbs and auxiliaries, and its
        object is the noun upon which the verb acts.  Thus, in the sen-
        tence "Grandma likes prunes," "Grandma" is the subject (and is a
        proper noun), "likes"  is the verb, and "prunes" (a common noun)
        is the direct object.

        In CATALYST, the first section of each unwritten and hypothetical
        sentence is referred to as the "subject" even though that section
        might contain a lot of words besides nouns.  The middle section,
        similarly, is referred to as the "verb" no matter what kinds of
        words it contains, and the third section (any third section) is
        called the "object."  Such deliberate twisting or wrenching of
        grammatical terms is less confusing than it would be to write a
        computer program using the terms "First Sentence Third," "Second
        Sentence Third," and (yipes!) "Third Sentence Third."  Further-
        more, it is a kind of poetic justice. "Subject," "verb," and
        "object" are metaphors when the computer uses them to stand for
        sections of sentences, and metaphors are vital in poetry.  (A
        metaphor is a kind of conscious lie in which a poet usefully
        compares one thing to something which it is not.  "Grandma is a
        prune" is a metaphor.  We know she is not a prune.  She just
        looks like a prune or is pretending to be prune.)

        Thus even the faults in CATALYST  are educational (or look educa-
        tional--or are pretending to be educational).

        Examples (from THE CATALYST KID, a children's version; capital-
        ized portions are computer generated):

          AWKWARD-LOOKING TOURISTS ARE ASLEEP, GENTLE, ENTIRELY SUBDUED.
          We watch them from across the leafy park.
          SAILBOATS ARE OBVIOUSLY AND MESSILY BLUBBERING
          after a long hard day.
          Little children with hula hoops WIGGLE THEIR HIPS in the shad-
                                     owy playground
          and a man in a crazy hat is painting us all on a huge sketch
                                                          pad.

        Here's another:







          ROWS AND ROWS OF APPLE TREES HAVE GIVEN UP COMPLETELY
          in this climate; in this galaxy
          genetics itself may ABANDON SHIP in our time here:
          ROWS AND ROWS OF APPLE TREES WAVER LIKE VOICES IN THE FOG
          and the winds of space devour them
          as they skip across the surface of change like toy SAILBOATS.
          SMOKY AND SONOROUS TRAILER TRUCKS REMEMBER US IN THEIR PRAYERS
          (for this is a new order) and
          TWO POUNDS OF CORNFLAKES GAVE OUT CLOUDS OF BROWN STEAM
          in the kitchen of our birth.

        And here's one (written entirely by the computer):

          DOGS AS SPLENDIDLY SUBMISSIVE AS PLUCKED OUT EYEBROWS SPREAD
                  OUT ON DOORSTEPS OF LITTLE CHURCHES.
          KILLERS WITH VIOLIN CASES AND EGGPLANT NOSES MADE US FEEL SICK.
          BEAUTIFUL GLASS MARBLES LOVE AFTER A FASHION NO LONGER FAMIL-
                                                                     IAR.
          ROWS AND ROWS OF APPLE TREES MUMBLE ABOUT THE FUTURE.
          THREE CHUBBY SOPRANOS SURPRISED US WITH THEIR LOVELINESS.
          SIX PLASTER STATUETTES OF GROUCHO MARX MADE OUR DAY.
          A VACANT BUILDING COVERTLY STUDIES KILLERS WITH VIOLIN CASES
                                               AND EGGPLANT NOSES.
          RAIN CLOUDS SOBBED AND SHOOK.
          SOAP BUBBLES (EACH A FRAGILE LITTLE WORLD) LIT UP.
          A BRIGHT-EYED CHILD SHOWS UP DISGUISED AS GRANDMA.




        HAIKU

        Using the Program

        Suggestions

        From Japan, the haiku (pronounced "High Coo") is an ancient verse
        form of three lines.  The first line contains five syllables; the
        second has seven syllables; and the last has five--for a total of
        seventeen syllables.

        The first line either must stand alone in meaning or run into the
        second.  If the first and second lines run together, the third
        line stands alone.  There are two sweeps--with the second line
        working as a partner in either the first or the second sweep.
        Thus the second line never truly stands alone:

                          1 and
                          2.
                          3.
              or:
                          1.
                          2 and
                          3.







        In addition, the imagery of the poem must somehow suggest a
        season of the year (and it is more effective to suggest than to
        tell outright by naming the season).

        Examples

                On the window sill--
                BUGS SLOW AND OLD AND LAZY:
                winter is coming.

            or:

                In the old garden.
                WHERE WHITE FALLEN PETALS LIE
                lovers trade whispers.

        The first refers, of course, to autumn, and the second refers to
        spring.

           -----
                            DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

        THIS  SOFTWARE  AND DOCUMENTATION ARE SOLD "AS  IS"  AND  WITHOUT
        WARRANTIES  AS  TO PERFORMANCE OR MERCHANTABILITY  OR  ANY  OTHER
        WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.  BECAUSE OF THE  VARIOUS
        HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE
        PUT, NO WARRANTY  OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED.

        GOOD  DATA  PROCESSING  PROCEDURE DICTATES THAT  ANY  PROGRAM  BE
        THOROUGHLY  TESTED WITH NON-CRITICAL DATA BEFORE RELYING  ON  IT.
        THE  USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM.   ANY
        LIABILITY  OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY  TO  PRODUCT
        REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF THE PURCHASE PRICE.

           -----
                            PARTIAL RELEASE OF COPYRIGHT

        CHATFIELD  SOFTWARE,  INC.  HEREBY RELEASES AND  ASSIGNS  TO  THE
        REGISTERED  LICENSEE THE COPYRIGHT TO ANY POEMS PRODUCED  BY  THE
        DULY REGISTERED  LICENSEE IN COLLABORATION WITH "POETRIO"  EXCEPT
        THAT  ALL  "RANDOM" POEMS PRODUCED EXCLUSIVELY  BY  THE  SOFTWARE
        ITSELF  WITHOUT  TEXTUAL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE USER  REMAIN  THE
        PROPERTY OF CHATFIELD SOFTWARE, INC. AND MAY BE PUBLISHED OR SOLD
        ONLY WITH WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM CHATFIELD SOFTWARE, INC.

        THIS PARTIAL AND LIMITED RELEASE OF COPYRIGHT IS CONTINGENT  UPON
        (1)  THE COPY OF THE SOFTWARE'S BEING A PROPERLY PAID AND  REGIS-
        TERED  COPY (2) FOR WHICH THE REGISTERED LICENSEE CAN  SHOW  EVI-
        DENCE OF REGISTRATION.

           -----

                  IN PROTECTION OF CONSUMER'S RIGHTS:


        "This  program  is  produced by a member of  the  Association  of
        Shareware  Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure  that  the
        shareware principle works for you.  If you are unable to  resolve
        a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting  the
        member directly, ASP may be able to help.  The ASP Ombudsman  can
        help  you resolve a dispute or a problem with an ASP member,  but
        does not provide technical support for members' products.  Please
        write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442
        or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman
        70007,3536."


                                       ***

        Other Chatfield Software products include:

        POETRY TUTOR $39.95 the same three programs as PoeTrio plus four
        others!

        POETRY WORKOUT $39.95 (a children's version of POETRY TUTOR--for
        Apple II series computers)

        STAR ALPHA $59.95 (An amazing Artificial Intelligence college
        level poetry course on disk. You can hold actual conversations
        with it!)

        Plus packages on chemistry and developmental psychology.







        ----------------------------------------------------------------------


                          "POETRIO" REGISTRATION FORM


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        Please send your check or money order for $20.00 along with this
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