Enjambment+--+Lydia

Erosion is a process that takes a long time to accomplish and I think that Linda Pastan did an excellent job in portraying it through poetic techniques. When I first read the poem, Erosion by Linda Pastan, I noticed that the enjambment controlled the overall pace of the poem. In the beginning the author starts off with, “We are slowly undermined. Grain by grain. . . . inch by inch. . . . slippage.” (Pastan) We’re so used to stopping after every line that when the poem is read aloud, we stop after the words “undermined”, “grain”, “inch”, and “slippage.” Although it’s a very short break, it creates a huge difference than if the lines were just read straight through without the enjambment like the following: “We are slowly undermined. Grain by grain. . . .inch by inch. . . .slippage.” (Pastan). I guess you can still hear the pause through the ellipsis but the enjambment actually puts more emphasis on the grain slipping. It seems as though the poet is trying to emphasize to us that the process of the grain slipping is slow. However, the poet also uses enjambment to speed things up. “It happens as we sleep, the way the clock's hands move continuously just out of sight, but more like an hourglass than a clock, for here sand is running out.” (Pastan) When I read this, I can tell that the speed is increasing. I can feel the sense of, I don’t know how to describe it but, impatience. One sentence is cut into 3 lines which makes the reading go faster compared to the first example where both the enjambement and the ellipsis play together to slow things down. The ellipsis, like mentioned above, creates this feeling of something drifting away. Just by seeing the ellipses, it reminded me of how small grain can be, how it can easy slip through your fingers. In addition to the ellipses, the enjambment also convey a similar feeling. By cutting through the middle of the sentence I get this tone of sadness. It is similar to when I talk about something sad and pause here and there to get my thoughts together. Rhythm is key in poetry. In the following example, the enjambment help the rhythm. When I was reading it out loud, I thought that I was chanting a spell or something. “We wake to water. Implacably lovely is this view though it will swallow us whole, soon there will be nothing left but view.” (Pastan) I especially like how the next 3 syllables of the sentences are cut into the next line. When the poet did this, I felt as though the sentence has more life than if the sentences were just one whole. By using poetic methods such as enjambment, the poem is able to have life compared to something like an essay or a book. The poet is able to play around with rhythm, meaning, and time all at the same time.

Citation: Pastan Linda. "Erosion." Erosion. UC Berkeley. Web. 06 Jan. 2010. .

Patrick: Your interpretation of the ellipsis is interesting. I would've thought more along the lines of how an ellipsis allows for a longer and more emphasized pause.