Enjambment+--+Jason

“Reapers” by Jean Toomer contains line breaks, which create pauses in between a sentence without any punctuation. For example, in the second line, the last word has no comma or period at the end of it but instead, just skips over to the next line. This serves as a method to alter the tone, rhythm, and theme of the poem without using additional words to do so. Line breaks make changes to the poem that a comma or period cannot and greatly alter the meaning of the poem. This tool in writing is used in many other poems as well. The tone of “Reapers” has a hint of malevolence as well as a hint of disinterest. The pause that a line break creates in the middle of a sentence emphasizes the part of the sentence that is on the next line. The first line of the poem leaves no imprint of fear in the reader whatsoever. Although the reader may guess what is happening and the connotations surrounding that activity, it's ambiguous. The beginning of the next line, which is where the first line break occurs, creates a sinister tone because of the connection made between the black reapers and scythes. The tone of the poem also appears to be one of disinterest. The line breaks create a sense of laziness that is further supported by the lack of any emotional detail throughout the poem. The most obvious product of the line breaks regarding rhythm is how the last word of each line rhymes with another in groups of two. For instance, line 1 ends with “stones” and line 2 ends with “hones.” This is true for all the lines in the poem. Other than this, rhythm appears to be somewhat irregular. There is no set speed because the varying punctuation throughout the poem, which mean different lengths of pauses at different times. The most apparent theme is of death. The poem outlines the day to day life of a reaper, who is the embodiment of death itself. The people that are killed, are killed for no particular reason other than that they are there. In line 6, a rat happens to be in the way, and is therefore cut up. After line 6, the same theme runs through the poem with the reapers continuing their work regardless of how many they have cut down. This connects with the tone of laziness that is created by the line breaks, since the way the reapers work is indiscriminate. The lines and words without the inclusion of line breaks give off a deathly aura, but the inclusion of line breaks adds to this by throwing laziness into the mix. The theme becomes death by a lazy person. Without line breaks, the poem would have to be written very differently to achieve the same tone and theme. The tone of the poem is what it is because of the line breaks, and the tone directly affects the theme because as mentioned just above, malevolent laziness is apparent in the theme.

Lydia: I think you did a really good job in connecting enjambment with the tone, rhythm, and them of the poem. I really liked your last paragraph about how the line breaks "give off a deathly aura." It's interesting how just a simple line break can affect the whole poem. When I read this poem I also thought that the line breaks created this sense of death.