Enjambment+--+Jennifer+Yang

Every word is a puzzle piece. Once the pieces are put together, one can realize what the author has truly left for the readers. In the puzzle, enjambment is a pattern, a short cut to notice common traces behind each piece. One can easily site this enjambment in “Reapers” by Jean Toomer. The author effectively uses this line-break to convey tones of calmness and displeasure, repetitious rhythm, and a grave warning of abandoning manual labor. By using enjambment, Jean Toomer effectively delivers calmness and dismay. In the first stanza, the author intentionally breaks the lines to emphasize the peaceful scene of “black reapers” preparing for the harvest. At the beginning of the second line, a phrase is continued from the previous line: "the sound of steel on stones/Are sharpening scythes." This enjambment puts emphasis on the men persistently working. Such a literary device already hints the speaker’s tranquil tone in the poem. Calmness continues as another enjambment immediately follows: “a thing that's done/And start their silent swinging, one by one.” The workers “silently swing” their blades, leaving the peace undisturbed and “One by one” the weeds fall as their “sharpened” scythes cut through the grass. There is no work that is more gratifying and fruitful as hard labor. The work, though hard, brings them a sort of dignity that can only be found doing difficult work. With the enjambment in every line of the first stanza, the author presents a careful, near silent work. The speaker, who is watching the affair, sounds still by the sights and sounds of the working reapers. On the contrary to the peaceful tone of the first stanza, he sounds dismayed as the men are replaced with a machine. This mower has neither heart nor dignity in it. By breaking the first line of the second stanza into two, Jean Toomer illustrates the mower’s noise and chaos to the field, slicing a “startled” field mouse. The enjambment, indeed, echoes an alarming tone by creating a loud squeal and the sight of blood in front of the reader's eyes, which directly contrasting to the serene harvesting scene of the first stanza. In addition, the author highlights the speaker’s agonizing tone by breaking the last sentence into half: “I see the blade/Blood-stained, continue cutting weeds and shade.” As the mouse “bleeds,” the mower moves on, “blood-stained”. The mower does not care; the black horses that pull the mower are unaware of the mouse’s agony. There is no compassion or care for anything except getting the job done. Through the enjambments, the author clearly delivers an unpleasant tone by highlighting the mower that cuts through the weeds with indifference, unknowingly destroying a field rat with its blades. Through enjambment the readers can sense that the speaker is in great dismay from the shattering of the peace. Jean Toomer further uses enjambment to effectively deliver the repetitious sense of the rhythm in the poem. In the first stanza, the last words in every line rhymes with the same sounding at the end: “stones” and “hones” and “done” and “one”. Through this rhyme, the author creates a rhythmic repetition to portray the repetitive nature of the work, the sharpening and swinging of scythes. This sort of work is monotonous in a physical sense, relying as it does on a few movements reiterated again and again, since it must be done every day, every season, season after season. It is "a thing that's done," a habit. Although Toomer continues this rhythmic pattern in second stanza through enjambment, everything changes nevertheless. The break represents a major change in the life of this rural area, the change from manpower to machines. Similar to the first stanza, every line ends with words that have same sounding: “weeds” and “bleeds”, “blade” and “shade”. However, the line describing the death of the field rat embodies definitely notes a change in meaning and in sound. Instead of working slowly and rhythmically, the mower moves on ineluctably, indiscriminately killing the living things before it, which make a sound that is the very antithesis of the soft silent swinging of the scythes. Through enjambment, Toomer also echoes a theme, ***, by creating a contrast between the knowledge and purpose of responsible human beings and the automated disinterestedness of machines. The reapers are deliberate in their preparations, and they have an objective and expectations of rewards. But no human awareness governs the actions of machines, which cannot comprehend the devastation they cause. The poem starts with the word “black.” The connotation behind this word has always been strong. It could be seen as the color of sin, fear, or despair. In this case, however, it refers to the men in the field. The implied meaning of “black” is shown in a good light: hardworking, thorough, and dignified as the enjambments highlight the working “reapers” peacefully cutting weeds. The last half of the poem, like the first, begins with the word “Black.” However, the connotation is different this time to further demonstrate the author’s theme. The black horses almost seem to be pulling a hearse, which is actually a mower. This mower represents an uncaring machine. Unlike the workers before it, the mower can cut multiple weeds at a time. The machine is so efficient that it not only destroys the weeds, but whatever lies beneath. This action destroys the peaceful harmony and brings forth the only unnatural noise mentioned in the poem. The mower commits murder but does not care. The theme that “Reapers” presents comes from the word “black” followed by sophisticated line-breaks. Toomer uses two different connotations of the word to divide the poem into good and evil. He implies that the shift from manual labor to industrial farms is going to be a tough, dark, harsh road. Indeed, Jean Toomer effectively uses enjambment to convey numerous ideas. Through this literary device, he conveys tones of calmness and dismay, monotonous yet antithetical rhythms, and a warning against machinery.

jung-ah:
 * pros: I think you did a really close reading. You make clear the interesting connections you make with themes and literary elements. You associate line-breaks in a really intriguing method. Lots of reference to the poetry.
 * cons: I though the intro was a bit confusing. I didn't understand how the "patterns in the puzzle" related to line-breaks.