h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: LIFE - A1173025
Author: Charityplayer - U213864



Short Init

Hey there charityplayer

I'm not much of a poet, but good job. However, poetry is usually reserved for other venues in h2g2. The edited guide is here to serve a different sort of creative work. Specifically, the EG is the locale for essay in non-fiction. Fictional work, poetry and personal reflections all have their place, but there are different places for them.

Of course, anything you write will be in the Guide. Peer Review and the Edited Guide, just apply a professional touch to one form of entry.

A53209 is the Editorial Guidelines section for peer review, you could take a look there.

Better venues for poetry to be reviewed might include the Post: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/ThePost

Hope this doesn't discourage you (somehow I think it won't), also, I hope that everything I've said is sensical. . .sometimes I confuse me.

Friar

Charityplayer with a Capital C to Friar with a Capital F


Charityplayers' brief Essay about Life is Not Fiction, Not Poetry, and Absolutely Not A Personal Reflection: it is A Statement of Fact - A DEFINITION.

It fullfills ALL THE GUIDE ENTRY CRITERIA to which you refer and which are reproduced here below.

Write about reality
Be original
Fill in the gaps
Plan your entry
Write about what you're interested in
Research your entry thoroughly
BE INSTRUCTIVE, INFORMATIVE AND FACTUAL
Write in your own style
Try to make your entry balanced
Don't try too hard to be funny
Write Entries of appropriate length
Avoid writing in the first person
Try to use good spelling and grammar
Do not copy from other sources


As for the Professional touch:

I hope that everything I've said is sensical. . .sometimes I confuse me. = ...sometimes me is my enemy.


ps

Man does not live on bread alone, so I have added a culinary footnote to your Edited Guide Entry on Popular (U.S.)Television Cooks A1045720
for people who like to sit around and chew the fat, as they say in America and elsewhere.

Hi there!

I will have to agree with Friar here. Though you have taken the Writing-Guidelines to account in your Entry, perhaps I could point you to the bits underneath that list which you reproduced for us from said page that say:

"A potential Edited Entry will essentially be instructive, informative and factual in varying proportions."

Unfortunately, there appears to be little instruction, information or fact with proof in your entry, referring to life, as it is an incredibly broad topic, which would need broad research and a possibly broad entry.

On the other hand, your Entry would be perfect for entry into the Alternative Writing Workshop, found in Writing-Alternative

Here is a little divulgence into why, exactly, your Entry does not fit the requirements for entry into the Edited Guide

--
LIFE, STARTS IN THE CRADLE,
AND ENDS IN THE GRAVE,
--
Not all life starts in the cradle. Some people may be unable to afford such luxuries.

'ending in the grave' suggests that people are being buried alive and then dying of asphixiation to lose their lives.

Also, some people are cremated, buried at sea, or even having their ashes painted in a portrait of the deceased and other such increasing imaginative ways. Considering the growing popularity of cremation, perhaps it would be better to reword it as:

'Life is often conceived to begin in the cradle, and the end of life comes in many different ways. Burial in a grave being one such option, and cremation being another. There are also many other increasingly imaginative methods of preserving the memory of one who lived.'
--
"AND AS YOU CANNOT SAVE
YOUR BODY AND HEAD,"

What are we saving our heads and bodies from, exactly? Are we talking about a body of evidence, a body of information, or everybody for themselves... or the Body Shop?

Also, the ancient Egyptians used mummification to preserve the head and body, and some might say that this method was very effective. The preservation of one of the Pharaoh's being so good that it preserved the scars of smallpox on his face and his last meal. Perhaps you could reword this.
--
"YOUR SOUL,
YOU HAVE
TO


SAVE."

Are we talking about Descartes' "I think therefore I am.", or his 'ghost in the machine'? Is it essential to save a philosophical entity? And for what purpose? Would it not be arguably more practical to save for life insurance so that one's next of kin at least is economically provided for?
--
As you can see, I think this Entry would need a little more work before it would be considered for the Edited Guide. After all, 'life', as you can see here, has several categories, and is not quite covered by all the Entries within those categories.

On the other hand, as I said before, if you wish to leave the Entry as it is, the Alternative Writing Workshop would be perfect for this, as Entry into there would put it up for possible mining for the Underguide, where it would be more suitable

I hope my comments have been helpful

Caper Plip

To my mind it reads like a poem. The EG's not for poetry. Try <./>ThePost</.>.

Actually, I quite like it, Charityplayer. However it's like a plant which has been put in the wrong soil. It won't flourish in the EG.

RULES OF REASONING
IN
NATURAL PHILOSOPHY



RULE 1



WE ARE TO ADMIT NOTHING OTHER THAN SUCH IS BOTH TRUE AND SUFFICIENT, TO EXPLAIN THE APPEARANCE OF THINGS

TO THIS PURPOSE, THE PHILOSOPHERS SAY, THAT NATURE DOES NOTHING IN VAIN

AND MORE IS IN VAIN, WHERE LESS WILL SERVE,
FOR NATURE, IS PLEASED WITH SIMPLICITY,
AND AFFECTS NOT
THE POMP OF
SUPERFLUOUS CAUSES


ISAAC NEWTON

[MATHEMATICAL PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND SYSTEM OF THE WORLD]

1686 A.D.




ps
IT IS NOT A POEM IT IS A RHYME

OK, but what I said still stands.

Likewise

What's the difference between a poem and a rhyme? Illuminate me.

WELL















POETRY
IS TO RHYME,
AS POETRY
IS TO PROSE,
NOT ONE NOT THE OTHER,
LIKE A HYBRID ROSE



NEWCASTLEUPONTYNE
NEWCASTLEUNDERLYME
LIME RHYMES WITH LEMON
LEMON RHYMES WITH LIME



Perhaps there is a Pagan as well as a Linguistically Technical Difference between a Poem and a Rhyme,
Possibly found
In every line,
Perhaps it is,
An Element or Beat,
Like the pitter patter,
Of Tiny Feet,
Or Hail, or Rain, or Snow, or Sleet

Simple,
Tidy,
Sweet or Neat,
That Rhyme
In the Mind,
Makes Complete




While The Poet Wanders Off,
O'er Hill and Dale,
Searching for Daffodils,
In an English Vale

For Poetry Need Not Rhyme
Nor Be Rhyme,
Any or All of the Time,
Poetry in Sonnet or Prose

Desiderata is Poetry,
Prayer and Prose,
And Desiderata Is Not Rhyme

So Poetry Prayer and Prose,
By Definition,
Rhyme Do Not Define

Likewise Rhyme,
The Poem cannot fully Define,
Only to Degree

Rhyme I Suppose,
Is Never Prose,
But Sometimes Poetic,
Perhaps Rhyme May Be

CARBON COPY


While The Poet Wanders Off,
O'er Hill and Dale,
Searching for Daffodils,
In An English Vale

For Poetry Need Not Rhyme
Nor Be Rhyme,
Any or All of the Time,
Poetry in Sonnet or Prose,
Poetry in Motion,
Or, Calamine Lotion,
Or,
Poetry in,
An English

Rose



Desiderata is Poetry,
Prayer And Prose,
And Desiderata Is Not
Rhyme

So Poetry Prayer And Prose,
By Definition,
Rhyme,
They Do Not
Define

Likewise The Rhyme,
The Poem Does Not
Fully Define,
Only to A Degree

Rhyme I Suppose,
Is Never Prose,
But Sometimes Poetic,
Perhaps,
Rhyme May Be

Hi Charityplayer

It is rare to see entries quite as succinct as this one.

Despite your rejection of the suggestion, this entry does read like poetry, and on that basis can justifiably be construed as poetry.

Again, though you have clearly read the first couple of paragraphs writing guidelines for EG entries, your interpretation of having fulfilled them all is difficult to agree with. For instance the Spelling and Grammar section leads to an English Usage page that suggests that using ALL CAPITALS should be avoided.

The lack of evidence of thorough research is also conspicuous. I'm not saying this entry isn't the result of thorough research, just that many people have a 'show-me' attitude - you can't just state your conclusions, you have to justify them.

The primary suggestion I should like to make is that the title is misleading. The entry does not fulfil the expectations implied by the title. I was partially hoping to see a discussion of the game created by John Horton Conway, though of course the topic of Life is considerably broader than this

As Friar and ZSF have said there are places in h2g2 for pieces such as this, but I believe you are being disingenuous if you say you can't understand why the Edited Guide isn't appropriate for this as it stands.

Pimms

TELL IT TO THE BBC




EMILY WILL READ,
WOT aUNTIE mAUD WILL WRITE,
ON THE TELLYTUBBY NEWS,
AT 6.30
EVERY NIGHT

aUNTIE mAUD THE OTHER DAY SAID,
FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE,
EMILY READ

THE BREADTH AND DEPTH AND MEANING OF LIFE,
ALL THE TROUBLE AND TEARS AND BLOOD AND STRIFE,
THAT,
REMAINED UNSPOKEN MATE,
FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE,
THE KRONER THE SWEDE WILL SAVE,
FROM THE GREEDY
EURO
MONSTER STATE

FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE,
EMILY AND aUNTIE mAUD SAID,
THEY BOTH GOT IT RIGHT,
IN
THE
HEAD

SO LIKE IT OR NOT,
THAT IS WOT YOU HAVE GOT,
FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE

BLOOD TEARS WAR AND STRIFE,
AND NO NAGGING WIFE

ONLY A SOLDIERS'
SOUL
TO

SAVE




LIFE, STARTS IN THE TEST TUBE,
AND ENDS IN THE SOYLENT TUB,
LIFE, ENDS IN SOYLENT GREEN

ONLY A CLOT,
WRITES ABOUT LIFE ON THE TROT,
LIFE ENDS IN A BISCUIT
OR HAVE YOU FORGOT

HAVE YOU FORGOT TO REMEMBER,
TOWARDS THE MIDDLE OF THIS SEPTEMBER,
THAT LIFE ENDS IN, OCTOBER RAIN

TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT MATE,
AGAIN AND AGAIN,
TELL ME THAT LIFE,
IS ALL ABOUT
BLOODY SUFFERING
AND


PAIN

Charityplayer with A Capital C to fish Friar with A Capital F



A RHYME

ABOUT
LIFE



RHYME


IN READING A RHYME,
YOU HAVE NOT READ ALL RHYME
YOU HAVE ONLY READ 1 RHYME
YOU HAVE NOT READ A RHYMES
TOU HAVE NOT READ ALL RHYMES

YOU HAVE NOT READ A RHYMES
YOU HAVE NOT READ A TIMES
YOU HAVE NOT READ A CHIMES
YOU HAVE READ
A RHYME

A RHYME ABOUT LIFE,
A RHYME ABOUT MY WIFE,
A RHYME ABOUT A WATERY GRAVE

LIFE, FOR THE FISH,
IS A F

AND
ENDS
IN

A
CAN
CALLED DEFF

OR,


LIFE FOR FREDDY FISH


LIFE ENDS UP
FOR FREDDIE FISH
WITH
A DOUBLE
F

LIFE ENDS UP
FOR FREDDIE
IN THE
FAT FRYER

BEING
FRIED
TO
DEFF

LIFE
ENDS
IN
A FRY UP,
FOR FREDDIE FISH

THEN TURNS UP
WITH A SLICE OF LEMON

FREDDIE
ON
A
DISH

LIFE: Appendix



YOUR SOUL YOU HAVE TO


SAVE






SAVING YOUR SOUL,
IS ANOTHER MATTER,
SAID SAINT SAVIOUR THE LAST
TO SAINT SAVIOUR THE LATTER

THERE IS NO WATER
IN HELL,
TO QUENCH
FIRE AND THIRST,
JUST AS THERE WAS NOT,
FOR,
SAINT SAVIOUR THE FIRST

SAINT SAVIOUR THE FIRST,
DIED FROM THIRST,
THEY HUNG HIM UP TO DRY

WATER IS VERY IMPORTANT TO MAN,
SAID SAINT SAVIOUR

WITHOUT WATER,
MAN WILL DIE

WATER IS LIFE
LIFE IS WATER,
SAINT SAVIOUR OFTEN SAID

AND BY THE TIME HE HAD FULLY DRIED OUT,
SAINT SAVIOUR WAS STILL
NOT
DEAD

IT TAKES A LOT OF BOTTLE,
TO DRY OUT FULLY,
SAINT SAVIOUR WAS HEARD TO SAY,
BUT PERHAPS WE WILL MEET,
FOR ANOTHER DRINK,
ONE FINE SUNNY
DAY

dave with a lower case d to Charitywhatever with more than a capitol C


Would you consider adding this entry to my executive summary series of guide entries?

dave

Charityplayer, maybe checking out some other Edited Guide entries will give you a better idea of what's acceptable in the Edited Guide.
<./>RandomEditedEntry</.>

You might also like to know that the subject of Life has only begun to be covered in the guide... http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/Search?searchstring=Life&showapproved=1&searchtype=article

...although the directory on Life is quite extensive C72



Rather ironically, when I previewed and tested the link for the Random Entry above, this is what it returned: A593462

I think your poems/rhymes are really good, Charityplayer, however as people have already said, Peer Review and the Edited Guide aren't really the places for them. How about moving this entry to the Alternative Writing Workshop, or entering it in the Post?

d with a lower case dave to Charityplayer with a capital C

yo whassup?