Importance of Lines and Line Breaks in Poetry
Special Impact Based on How People Read a Poem
Jul 2, 2009
Lines are the single common feature in all poetry: formal and free verse; recited and read. In prose, the point where the line breaks is determined by the printer, based on font and paper size.
Importance of Line Breaks in Poetry
In poetry, the line is a unit, chosen by the poet, that has certain effects on the reader. Those effects include: speed of reading (especially when other pacing elements are used); meaning; emphasis. These effects are there for every line of poetry, perhaps stronger in some than in others. Every poet, both writers of free verse and formal verse, use the line.
When reading a line of poetry, the reader will briefly stop at the last word. The eyes need to shift to the beginning of the next line. The length of time needed to shift depends on the length of the line. A longer line requires a longer shift. While this is happening, the mind stays with the last word of the line for a fraction of a second. Thus the last word carries greater emphasis.
The reader, knowing that the line is a unit, will stop a little longer than necessary for the eye shift and process the line as a unit. The disconnect between the line just read and the line to come is greater than with prose because the reader knows the poet chose to break the line at that point. Thus, in addition to the last word being emphasized, the meaning of the line as a self-contained unit is internalized. The first word of the next line is emphasized as well, though the last word more so.
How a Poet Uses the Line Break
The line has a meaning to itself, as well as a meaning in the full context of the poem. This gives the possibility to provide duality with the ending word. Take, for example, the following line:
together in dreams they are prone
The reader has an expectation of what is to come, based on the word “prone” meaning the characters in the poem are in a horizontal position. However, the next line changes that expectation.
together in dreams they are prone
to dance.
Thus the word “prone” means apt to, rather than horizontal. The reader’s most likely expectation was foiled by the poet, and the twist provides more delight as a result.
Example of How Line Breaks Affect the Reader
Since with free verse the poet lays aside two common poetic devices (rhyme and meter), the line takes on added importance. William Carlos Williams was a master of the line. In his short poem "That Is Not To Say" he makes excellent use of lines. The verses are made up of short lines, as with the first verse:
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
Williams could have written this as one line:
"I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox"
This seems to be a complete unit of speech, though absence of punctuation at the end indicates something more is coming in the same sentence. What did Williams gain by breaking this into short lines rather than having it as one line? Since each lines becomes a unit in itself, the brain will analyze them as stand alone units, then in relation to each other.
As short lines, four words are emphasized as ending words: eaten, plums, in, icebox. These almost seem to be a sentence of their own. Thus Williams chose his lines so that each of his key words is emphasized. The words that are not emphasized are: I, have, the, that, were, the. These are all necessary words for understanding, but they are not as important as those end words. If this stanza were written as one line, the only word emphasized would be 'icebox', and all others would bear equal and less weight.
But word emphasis is not all the short lines do. They drag out the message. The extra time needed to go from the end of a short line to the beginning of the next slows down the reading. Many commentators (John Ciardi, for example) interpret this poem as being about marital trouble, as if the narrator ate the plums out of spite, then left this note to his/her significant other to provoke an argument. The short lines would seem to support this.
In summary, lines are the fundamental element of a poem. this results in readers processing lines differently than with prose, and as a result having an expectation of what is to come in the poem. This gives the poet opportunity to use the line and the line break to provide emphasis and duality of meaning.
