tedster - 5:41 pm on Jun 16, 2004 (gmt 0)

Nice insights - thanks isitreal.

I've read that many of the top commercial copy writers are poets, at least in their spare time. This would certainly correlate. In fact, professional copy writers concern themselves very much with elements like "scan" and "flow" -- much more about the poetic aspects of their copy than the informational aspects.

One of the hallmarks of great copy is that it flows like poetry - whether it rhymes or not. Have you ever read copy that is actually rhyming and metered poetry, but it's formatted like prose? It's rare, but I have seen it, and it has an overall effect that holds the readers' attention very well.