Young Writers Society

For many of us (myself included), our smart phones are always with us. Wouldn't it be great if we could use this as another tool to enhance our poetic selves? Well guess what. We can! Inspired by NaPo, I decided to check out some of the App Store's poetry related offerings and review them. Note: I am using an iPhone 5S using iOS 8.1. I'm not sure what Android has. If anyone would like to check it out, that would be awesome. Also, all of these apps are free to download, but some offer paid features. Non-smartphone peeps: I'll try to find and include associated websites. Since some of the app names sound pretty similar, I'll describe the icon too.

Reading Poetry

These apps are primarily focused on reading poems. Some are classic, others more contemporary, and others a mix.

Poetry (icon is Pegasus on an orange background)
This one comes to us from The Poetry Foundation, which publishes Poetry magazine. It has a lot of poems, including poems from their magazine (running since 1912), public domain poems, and any other poems they could get permission to reprint. The poems are sorted into categories based on mood and subject matter, and you can spin them randomly to find poems or search for poems from either category. Some poems have audio read by the author, which is pretty cool. You can also save/share your favorites, change the text size to make it easier to read, and read author bios. Line breaks can be confusing since the screen is small, but with indents, it's not too bad. Overall, it's a beautiful app and really fun for exploring poetry both old and new.

ThePoetryApp
This one is from the Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation, an organization that promotes poetry reading and education. It includes many poems from a lot of classic authors, often including audio and video performances from famous actors (including Ralph Fiennes, who played Voldemort, and Roger Moore, who played James Bond. So if you ever wanted Voldemort to read you poems...). It also has a "My Poems" feature, where you can write poems and then save them to a virtual book on a shelf. It is so cool! For inspiration, you can use word banks from the poets, which is fun.

The app is absolutely beautiful. http://connecteddigitalworld.com/2012/09/16/a-look-at-the-poetry-app-for-the-ipad-from-the-josephine-hart-poetry-foundation/ Here is a video showing the app on the iPad, which...makes me REALLY want an iPad. I mean, it's still beautiful on the phone, but obviously there's not quite as much room. Also sometimes I find it hard to swipe between balloons, but I think that's my dirty screen and not the app. The "My Poems" feature is also not as fun on a small phone screen, but it's still enjoyable. Overall, I'd say you absolutely must download this if you have any interest in poetry. Oh, and the video says it is on Android. YAY!

UPDATE: For Android users, here is the link to the Google Play Store @Aley https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mcsaatchimobile.thepoetryapp

Pocket Poetry (icon is an orange ribbon on a white background)

This app is beautiful in its simplicity. One poem is posted every day, usually a classic/well-known author. You can see all the poems for that calendar month only, but you can bookmark poems to save for later reading. Sometimes the poems match the season (for example, today is December 7 and the poem is "Christmas Trees" by Robert Frost). The app is free, but there is an option to offer a tip under "Settings", which I will probably do because I really enjoy this app.


Writing Poems

These apps are more focused on creating poems.

Verser

This is a "refrigerator magnet poetry" style app. Basically, you get so many words on your screen and in a "word drawer" and you play around to make something interesting. The words from four dictionaries: "old school", "new school", "small words", and "the". You use sliders to tell it how many of each you want. You can also buy additional dictionaries (currently on sale), but I'm not sure it's worth it. I seem to get a good variety of words as-is. Once you like what you see, you can share it via email, Facebook, or Twitter. Here's an example screenshot of one I made.


Things to watch out for: Make sure you don't have Portrait Screen lock on, as you won't be able to see all of the screens right. Also, you can create "custom words", but you only get 10 free ones total. After that, you have to buy more. I didn't use these, but someone mentioned it on an App Store review.

FridgePoems (icon is red refrigerator)

This app also uses the "magnet poetry" layout, but I like it better than Verser for a couple reasons. You get much more words per refresh, so it feels more like an actual refrigerator magnet experience. You can also choose the fridge color and background, which is fun.

Here's an example creation from 2016 NaPo.

CreativeWriter app (icon is W with rainbow line).

So I decided to check the App Store to see if any cool new poetry apps had popped up, and I found my new obsession. It's a simple notes app that includes both a regular keyboard and a predictive text keyboard that gives you several words from famous poems (the default-you can purchase additional word packs for a broader vocabulary). There's also a "talking robot" that makes poems from the predictive text, which is fun.

I've written a few NaPo poems using this app, mostly using the predictive text. I'll admit there ends up being a lot more "filler words" than I would normally put in a poem, it does push me to some interesting ideas. See an example below



There are some more apps I want to talk about but don't have much time right now. So for now, here's a list I'll cross off as I can.
1. Poetry (reddish balloon on white background)--A poem a day. That's pretty much it.
2. Poems (white clouds on orange background). From Penguin Classics. Helps you memorize poems.
3. Poetics (white "p" on black background) Instagram meets fridge magnet poetry.
4. The Raven-Exactly what it says on the tin. Unless of course you were hoping for an in-depth scientific discussion about Corvus corax
5. FridgePoems-Another fridge poem app, but different layout than Verser.
6. Reader by Poetry Daily. From Poems.com (not to be confused with the infamous poetry.com). More contemporary focus.

UPDATE: Found this list here which includes some paid iPhone and iPad apps you may be interested in.



So how about you guys? Any poetry app finds I missed? What do you think about these apps?

I've only tried Verser before - but I didn't actually like it. It seemed too much of a mechanical trouble for poeting, although I love /actual/ fridge magnets.

I'm to good for poetry apps, but I use a website to find good rhymes and it's called RhymeZone.