Enjambment+--+Annie

Annie Park Ms. Porter AP Literature 10 January 2010

I always wondered why sentences in poems started and ended in such strange places. A sentence would run through several lines, when the writer easily could have made it fit into one. But looking at Linda Pastan’s “Erosion,” I see how important of a role enjambment plays in poetry.

Line breaks offer suspense. “We are slowly / undermined” (Pastan 1-2). We read things from left to right, top to bottom, so before we get to the next line, we wonder, //we are slowly… what?// If this were written as, “we are slowly undermined,” it would not have the same effect. The same goes for this fragment: “… for here sand / is running out” (15-16). Before we read the second line, we wonder, //for here sand… is what?// If it were written as, “… for here sand is running out,” we would know exactly what the sand is doing here. The poem would lack a suspenseful tone.

Line breaks also make readers focus on specific words, allowing us to recognize key words and therefore identify themes. “… there will be / nothing left / but view” (22-24). In these three lines, two words stand out: nothing and but. The line breaks before these two words make them more obvious and more emphasized. If it were written as, “there will be nothing left but view,” the sentence would sound dull. No words would stick out. I wouldn’t stop to wonder whether nothingness could be a possible theme. “One day the sea will simply / take us” (33-34). Similarly, the line break in this sentence highlights two words: simply and take. If it were written as, “one day the sea will simply take us,” the sentence would sound too monotonous. Again, no words would stick out. And I wouldn’t stop to wonder whether simplicity and taking away could be possible themes.

Line breaks also affect a poem’s rhythm. They force readers to pause and breathe between certain words, to stop and think between certain phrases. “The children / press their faces to the glass / as if the windows were portholes, / and the house fills / with animals: two dogs, / a bird, cats—we are becoming / an ark already” (34-40). There’s a certain rhythm to the sentence. The line breaks divide it into perfect sections; not too many syllables, not too few. Imagine; if the whole thing were written as one line, it would just seem like a huge run-on sentence, especially when written after a series of shorter sentences. Line breaks are necessary to keep the poem flowing.

So I know now that writers don’t use line breaks just to make their poems //look// pretty. They use enjambment because it contributes to the overall tone, feel, rhythm and meaning of their poems.

Works Cited Pastan, Linda. “Erosion.” //a compendium of poetry//. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2010. .


 * This is very similar to what I wrote for the effects of line break. Yes, line breaks lead readers to spend a second to think now what is next. Or readers get more time to concentrate on a certain word poet wanted to place an emphasis on. And structure wise, it does make it look prettier, but as you said, the main reason for enjambment is to contribute to tone, rhythm and theme of the poem. (Jerry)**