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From: dorai@tone.rice.edu (Dorai Sitaram)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re: TeX and poetry: \obeylines and \smallskip
Message-ID: <1990Dec12.200329.10874@rice.edu>
Date: 12 Dec 90 20:03:29 GMT
References: <50833@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
Sender: news@rice.edu (News)
Organization: Rice University, Houston
Lines: 49
Cc: xiaofei@acsu.buffalo.edu dorai

In article <50833@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> xiaofei@acsu.buffalo.edu (Xiaofei Wang) writes:
>I have a problem: the \obeylines is very nice that it saves the
>trouble of typing \par all the time but at the same time it prevents
>spacing between stanzas of a poem so that one has to type \smallskip
>all the time. The question is how to use the first feature and at the
>same time avoid the second disadvantage? [I don't mind to type a few
>\smallskip's but when I come across a long poem it is really inconvenient.]

All one needs to do is modify plainTeX's definition of \obeylines to
also recognize blank lines.  Redefine \obeylines (or call it something
else) as follows:

\def\makeactive#1{\catcode`#113\relax}

\def\adjustedpar{\par\mbox{}}
\newdimen\adjustedparindent
\adjustedparindent=0em
\newskip\adjustedparskip
\adjustedparskip=0pt plus 1pt

{\makeactive\^^M
  \gdef\obeylines{%
    \parindent=\adjustedparindent%
    \parskip=\adjustedparskip%
    \makeactive\^^M%
    \let^^M=\adjustedpar%
    \leavevmode\hbox{}}}

It causes all carriage-returns -- even the ones after blank lines -- in
the body of an \obeylines to appear as newlines.  Thus, you can omit
all the \smallskip's in your example:

>{\obeylines
>I heard the trailing garments of the Night
>     Sweep through her marble halls!
>I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light
>     From the celestial walls!
>
>\smallskip	
 ^^^^^^^^^^<--- omit
>
>I felt her presence, by its spell of might,
>    Stoop o'er me from above;
>The calm, majecstic presence of the Night,
>    As of the one I love.
>[...]
>} 

--d