[enuddleyarbl]

I found Jellby's snippet of CSS for poetry:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...32&postcount=4

But, since it's 13 years old, I felt pretty silly trying to ask about it there. So...

Originally Posted by Jellby

...
css:

div.poetry {
  margin: 1em 0 1em 2em;
}
div.poetry p {
  margin: 0;
  padding-left: 3em;
  text-indent: -3em;
  text-align: left;
}
div.poetry p.indented {
  margin-left: 2em;
}
div.poetry p.first {
  margin-top: 1em;
}

So, use class="first" when a new stanza begins and class="indented" for indented lines.

For pieces with more complex indent pattern or for mainly poetry works I'd probably do something different, like a <div></div> for each stanza (which could include "page-break-inside: avoid" in the css).

Is it possible to put classes like this on blockquote instead of div? Is it even desirable? I'm to the point where I've played around with enough books' CSS that using blockquotes as a single solution for walls-o'-text, poetry and letters (i.e., Dear Sir...) is starting to grate. I'm considering classes for poetry and letters and leaving wall-o'-text at just plain blockquote. But, I wonder what's the least complex/most understandable way to do it.