Enjambment+--+Jessica

Jessica Yun

Ms. Porter

AP Literature

January 9 2010 Eroding Lines

My initial reaction to line breaks was not so friendly; I viewed them as irritating, haphazard traps for narration. I asked myself: wherein lied the purpose behind enjambments, behind breaking up lines at seemingly random sections of a phrase? I struggled with this question in class but after deconstructing the poem “Erosion” by Linda Pastan, I realized how poets, at least the masterful ones anyway, deliberately employ enjambment to shape tone, rhythm, and theme. So is this tool worth the oral stumble? It takes an analysis of the impact of this poem’s particular enjambment to answer such question.

As I read Pastan’s “Erosion” aloud, I imagined a gray-haired woman sitting on a patio, squinting at the foaming waves and recollecting a lifetime at the seaside. This reflective tone I perceive is largely due to the poem’s enjambments. For example, in the fourth stanza, the narrator begins to describe the imminent fate of mankind: “One day the sea will simply / take us. The children / press their faces to the glass” (31-33). A line break occurs after the subject “children”. Pastan creates a visual pause here, taking a moment to generate memories of childhood for the narrator and reader. Had this last line been continuous, it would not have allowed for that brief yet precious moment of recollection. Pastan also delivers such tone in a different line break: “Implacably lovely / is this view”(17-18). Again, the emphasis on the preceding line creates a lasting impression and a visual pause, developing a reminiscent tone.

This reminiscent tone is accompanied by a pulse. I found these lines particularly musical: “It happens as we sleep/ the way the clock’s hand / move continuously” (9-11). The stressed syllables maintain an iambic meter. Interestingly, the enjambment does not limit the number of syllables in each line but retains a similar emphasis on the second beat. It also seems that Pastan uses enjambments to avoid rhymes. Lines in the fourth stanza exemplify this: “and the house fills /with animals: two dogs,” (35-36). “Fills” and “animals” could have formed rhyming ends, but Pastan might have found it too conventional to be appropriate for this abstract of erosion. Rather than following a conventional rhyme pattern, the rhythm of “Erosion” seems to be modeled after the subject itself: erosion. The enjambments, “breaking off” of full phrases, builds rhythm. Notice how in the second to fifth stanzas, the last line in each stanza is three or less syllables. This occurs as the enjambment in the previous line removes a section of the following line, creating a rhythm of its own. This “erosion” of lines relates to Pastan’s “layering” of details. Using enjambment, she makes each line a modification of the preceding one:

We have tried a seawall. We have tried prayer. We have planted grasses on the bank, small tentacles hooks of green that catch on nothing. For the wind (25-30)

In lines 27-30, the enjambment creates gradual exposure of the subject, a realization of the fate of mankind. As though it were unearthing artifacts, the enjambment brings suspense to each line. The idea fully unfolds across the span of three lines, awakening the reader to notice our diminishing power. lines I noticed that in the fourth stanza Pastan switches from two lines of end-stopping to enjambment. So why use an enjambment after “grasses” and not “prayer”? Both are failed attempts to prevent erosion, but Pastan may have implied greater significance in the former. Perhaps she means to say that our petty attempts to play creator fail, and we ultimately cannot withstand the passage of time or the forces of nature.

One can see how Pastan’s enjambments draw attention to the tone, rhythm, and theme of man’s infinitesimal position in this world. In this particular poem, the enjambments do play a crucial role in subtly delivering this message. They work for the poem, artistically and thematically. Yet I cannot agree that all enjambments in all poems perform significant roles; whether every breath is worth taking, we cannot be so sure.

Hi Jessica:) This is Lindsay. I actually analyzed the "Reapers," so it was fun to read your analysis about the "Erosion." It was really interesting to read your analysis because I had similar thoughts with you about the poem while we read this in class. Especially when you pointed out that the poet made an emphasis on children through enjambment to reminisce about the past childhood memories. I was able to picture the scene through your analysis much more clearly. But I thought enjambment does not subtly deliver the messages, but kind of obviously--for me at least.