Example

<poem>
In [[Wikipedia:Xanadu|Xanadu]] did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
</poem>

Example with indentation

<poem>
Une terre au flanc maigre, âpre, avare, inclément
Où les vivants pensifs travaillent tristement, 
::Et qui donne à regret à cette race humaine
Un peu de pain pour tant de labeur et de peine ; 
::Des hommes durs, éclos sur ces sillons ingrats ; 
Des cités d’où s’en vont, en se tordant les bras, 
::La charité, la paix, la foi, sœurs vénérables ; 
L’orgueil chez les puissants et chez les misérables ; 
</poem>

Style

The poem text is wrapped in a div, which has no style by default; but inherits any style or class option passed to the poem.

For example, while indented text can be used for simple examples to prevent filling and draw a nice blue box, it can be hard to read in some cases, since long lines aren't broken. A similar, but somewhat better effect can be obtained with:

<poem style="border: 2px solid #d6d2c5; background-color: #f9f4e6; padding: 1em;">

When applied to the above example, the result is as follows:

"compact" option

Applying the ‎<poem> tag with the compact option to a text of more than two lines, every line becomes a separate paragraph. (That is to say, it allows for more compact markup, not for a more compact output.)

Subsequent use of the ‎<poem> tag with the compact option, with up to two newlines in between, gives just a single newline between texts, not a new paragraph.

Thus, applied to texts of more than two lines each, every line becomes a separate paragraph, except that the last line of each text and the first line of the next text are combined into one paragraph.

<poem>
One,
Two.
</poem>
<poem>
Three?
Four!
</poem>

<poem compact>
One,
Two.
</poem>
<poem compact>
Three?
Four!
</poem>

<poem>
One,
Two.
Extra.
</poem>
<poem>
Three?
Four!
Extra.
</poem>

<poem compact>
One,
Two.
Extra.
</poem>
<poem compact>
Three?
Four!
Extra.
</poem>

Problems and solutions

• Variables and ParserFunctions do work inside the ‎<poem>...‎</poem> container, but NOT within the <poem ... > tag itself; this prevents templates with code such as <poem style="{{{1}}}">.
• One workaround is to use <div style="{{{1}}}"><poem> ... </poem></div> instead.
• Another way is to use the #tag magic word: {{#tag:poem| ... |style="{{{1}}}"}}.
  • NB: this would however seem not to work with the "compact" option.

<poem style="{{{1|border: 1px solid Black;}}}">
One,
{{{2|Two.}}}
</poem>

<div style="{{{1|border: 1px solid Black;}}}">
<poem>
One,
{{{2|Two.}}}
</poem>
</div>

{{#tag:poem|
One,
{{{2|Two.}}}
|style="{{{1|border: 1px solid Black;}}}"
}}