"Within the images and descriptions of poetry, which are the poetic lines, we must allow
the audience to interpret the timing
of a poem how they see fit."
- dimitrireyespoet.com
A line break or an enjamb is the process of one thought moving onto another line. I’ve already made a “how to” video on enjambment that you can here below, and I’ll have an in depth blog soon.
But before I write the blog about the “how to” of line breaks, I wanted to talk about the theory and feeling of line breaks; the “why” rather than the “how.”
Before we begin, it will be beneficial to know the definition of enjambment, a French word meaning to “step over” or “cross legs.” Similarly for poetry, it means to move from one line to another without ending the line with a punctuation mark.
Here are 3 ways you can start to get a sense of why it is helpful to rely on line breaks.
1) Your Thought is Not Determined By the Line
Think of it as your thought not being determined by the line. This allows your work to appear less choppy. If you have a sentence for every line, it would appear as a monastic. Monastics, one- lined stanzas and/or sentences, traditionally has a punctuation mark or ends on a natural pause when the line is finished. The pausing at the end of every line works as a rest note in music, and subconsciously makes the reader pause and reflect at the end of each one.
Make sure you are aware if the purpose of the poem is for the reader to stop and ingest the end of every line. If that wasn’t your purpose or it isn’t necessarily working, it can cause a literary traffic jam, where each sentence, punctuation mark by punctuation mark is similar to bumper to bumper traffic. This is a good tip to take notice of, especially for beginners that have the urge of placing a period at the end of every line.
This also may be something you want to avoid if you’d rather concentrate on other things in the poem, like the overall tone and content rather the structure of each line. That can come later.
2) Line Breaks Reveal The Gutter
The gutter is a term used by comic book buffs to describe the space in between the panels. Panels, the images which are in comic books and graphic novels, take most of the real estate on the page while the gap in between the panels account for the space and time between the action.
This is similar to poetry, as it is contrived of images and descriptions. Poetry is more succinct than fiction, it’s quicker, and in the manipulation of this language we are always aiming to choose our words wisely. In doing so, understand that there is much of the narrative that doesn’t need to be explained, rather than felt and experienced. Within the images and descriptions of poetry, which are the poetic lines, we must allow the audience to interpret the timing of a poem how they see fit.
I tell my students, “can your audience read in between the lines?” The white space in between words allows time to take place and you have to manipulate those decisions at every enjamb. Are the lines moving along several seconds, minutes, hours, or years apart?
Additionally, here are 3 sections from Scott McCloud’s Understanding comics that help illustrate the relationship between images and the gutter.
3) What is Left Unsaid
When it comes down to it, as humans we are nosey beings! We are constantly seeking the “truth.” Answers for the unexplainable, explanations for the smallest of functions. We are less concerned with what is and are in the never ending pursuit of what could be.
In understanding the way we are persistent in seeking the truth, you have to determine what you choose to reveal to your audience. What you leave out in the white space of the page forces the reader to become a part of the narrative and purveys the part of the story you left out.
This is what keeps me coming back to poetry, the fact that you could have a poem be read by 100 people and get 100 different interpretations, no matter how slight or the same.
Before the end of this blog, I would like to leave you with this additional section of McCloud’s Understanding Comics that will help you better understand tips 2 and 3.
If you still feel as though you need additional help after reading my blog and watching the video below, contact me for a consultation or edits and you’ll be sure to get some extra insight on how to make that application shine.
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