The Top 5 Apps for Poets

Inspire your inner Shakespeare

To use an app or not to use an app—that is the question?

However, when it comes to considering the following apps for reading poetry, writing poetry, jotting down snippets, and recording your inspiration and ideas for your next poem, the following 5 apps will do the trick. So unleash your inner Shakespeare, hop on your nearest wireless internet connection, and start crafting an artistry of words…

All these apps are very worth while.

1. American Poetry ($1.99 – for iPhone)

Robert Frost, e.e. cummings, Edgar Allan Poe, Langston Hughes, Ezra Pound, Walt Whitman, T.S. Eliot, Sylvia Plath, Stephen Crane and Emily Dickinson, the American Poetry app features all of the greatest American wordsmiths in its fully-searchable library of 5,000 poems. Read the most brilliant poems in history in their entirety on the bus, train, or even on the beach. The collection contains poems of American Poetry is another great resource for reading poetry. And the next time you need that perfect poetry quote to sum up your feelings—you’ll have words from over 50 of America’s greatest poets right at your fingertips.

2. Poetry Everywhere (Free – for iPhone)

If you want to immerse yourself in pure poetry for the soul, the Poetry Everywhere app is the perfect respite. This app features a sample of contemporary poets reading their own works. Reading poetry is one thing, but hearing the words uttered from the mouth of the artist who created them is a whole new experience. There is nothing quite like seeing poetry performed right before your eyes. And if you don’t have a spoken word hang out in your neck of the woods, the Poetry Everywhere app is the next best thing! Get your snapping fingers ready to give your appreciation to America’s best contemporary poets.

3. Verses : A Notebook for Creative Writers ($0.99 – for iPhone)

Regardless of if you’re a poet, novelist, or a creative writer of any sort, one of your biggest challenges is capturing ideas suddenly—such as in bed, on your commute, or during your lunch hour. Too often inspired writers and poets forget their best stuff when they don’t have something to write on or record their ideas. The Verses app solves this conundrum by letting users take notes whenever and wherever you’re struck with genius. Plus, if you’re stuck on a rhyme, you can simply enter a word and this app will deliver multiple options that rhyme with it.

4. RhymeNowHD ($1.99 – for iPhone and iPad)

A more in-depth derivative of the app above, the RhymeNowHD app is like a constant muse—take it with you wherever you may write and use it to help you find the perfect rhyming words for your poems.

5. Instant Audio Recorder ($0.99 – for iPhone)

Taking notes on the back of your lunch napkin is one thing, but wouldn’t it be great to take an audio record of your most inspired poetic musings? The Instant Audio Recorder app will do just that—capture your ideas and sources of inspiration in less than a moment’s notice. Just launch the app and it will automatically start recording. Plus, you can send your sources of inspiration directly to your email or iTunes library to store and use later.

Bio: Jane Johnson is a writer for GoingCellular, a popular site that provides cell phone related news, commentary, reviews on po pular providers like T-Mobile.