Enjambment+--+Lauren

Write a 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 page analysis of the impact of line breaks—and how it affects tone, rhythm, and theme—in one of the following poems:**
 * Lauren Lee

If all poems were ended all at the same point with equal line breaks and punctuation in every single line, it would be absolutely boring. Themes, tone, and rhythm wouldn’t differ among all the poems and every poems would eventually sound the same to our ears and eyes. This is why poets use enjambment to create poems that are intriguing to the readers through variations in lines through length, punctuation, and speed. For example, “Erosion” by Linda Patson does a great use of enjambment that interests the reader.

One effect of the use of enjambment is that it makes the rhythm flow more naturally. It keeps the reader going. If lines all finished in each line and period stopped every single line, the flow would be very rigid and the rhythm would be abruptly ending in each line. For example in “Erosion”, the rhythm in the last line of stanza one is helped through enjambment as well. The enjambment between “[t]he waved move their log row” and “of scythes over the long beach” show the reader the parallel rhythm of the two “long” phrases in each line. Readers would have slipped through this occurring rhythm if it wasn’t for the enjambment. The “...” after the grain and the inch keeps the rhythm flowing by making the readers continue on naturally to the next line rather than to stop at the end of each line. The whole second stanza is simply just one sentence but the enjambment makes the flow natural with each description being emphasized. The enjambment between“but more like an hourglass” and “than a clock” tells the reader to see the difference and to note the emphasis. The flow is naturally accomplished and the emphasis is achieved at the same time. When the stanzas need separate emphasis on a short phrase, there is no enjambment such as in stanza four when Linda Patson just wrote “we have tried a seawall” and “we have tried prayer”. However, to lead on the next rhythm, enjambment comes back into play in the third line, in which more details are added and and the next sentence, which as no parallelism, is naturally added to not disturb the rhythm.

This poem seems to have a tone of sad acceptance of someone or something leaving. Maybe the world, a dream, or a person. The sand disappearing slowly due to the wind and the waves seem to represent something that’s being lost. The last stanza with the line, “ I think that you are sand, moving slowly, slowly from under me” allude that it may be talking about a person. The enjambment once again helps the tone settle as a sad, downcast tone. For example, in the first line of stanza 3, the line stops as “[w]e wake to water”, making us know that water is present and known of: with no more additional meaning. The contrast and the emphasis of the sad tone is carried on in the enjambment in the next line. “Implacably lovely is this view” starts out showing that the water is a pleasant view but the enjambment makes the reader not stop at the point, but it leads the reader to the actual point that water is actually frightening with the continuing phrase, “thought it will swallow us whole”. If it wasn’t for the enjambment, the gloomy tone wouldn’t have successfully flowed through that line that shows hidden meaning through contrast. The shallow, soft tone is shown in the last stanza’s enjambment where “moving slowly, slowly, is added on a separate line, but still a part of a sentence. “I think that you are sand” implies that “you” disappears, but the enjambment of continuing the phrase “moving slowly, slowly” emphasizes the painful tone of something disappearing slowly, causing more wait, pain, and sorrow.

Due to the effect of enjambment in tone and rhythm, it also affects the overall theme. The theme is easier to understand due to the enjambment. If all sentences had been broken up evenly into equal length and all ending with periods, readers wouldn’t understand the overall allusion of disappearance over time. Readers would more likely concentrate on what makes the sand disappear such as the wave or the wind, rather than the time it takes and what it causes, which are emphasized through enjambment. Phrase such as “small tentacles” that try to catch on to what’s being taken away or how “slowly, slowly” it was disappearing were placed at the end of the lines without punctuation, which gave more emphasis than to be placed in the middle of a line. The theme of the comparison of sand and someone and the slow disappearance or leave was greatly portrayed through enjambment.

Use of enjambment in “Erosion” by Linda Patson greatly helped the tone settle, rhythm flow naturally, and the theme get to us easily. The use of no punctuation allow important phrases to stand alone and the enjambment helped the readers flow to the next line without stopping the flow of ideas and understanding.

=
I read your reflection, and it's really insightful. I did the same analysis on this poem, but I didn't think about this poem as addressing to someone who's leaving the world. I merely thought this as the effect of time and how it takes away everything. It's a great reflection. Good job.