Poetic Lines and Effective Line Endings

Why Use Lines in Poetry?

Lines are part of what makes poetry, poetry.
Prose writing goes to the right-hand margin based on page and font size; poetry is divided into lines for specific reasons.
Prose poetry exists as a hybrid genre, using poetic techniques but presented as prose.
Lineation is part of the definition of poetry.
Lines contribute to the rhythm of poems.
Each line is a unit of sound, creating rhythm and a unit of meaning.
Lines create a natural pause or breath dividing the rhythm.
Poems up until the 20th century tended to rhyme at the end of lines.
The placement of line breaks affects the pace.
The words at the end of a line are important and get emphasis.

All poems have rhythm created by accented and unaccented syllables.
Meter is a repeated pattern of accented and unaccented syllables.
Syllables:
- "find" has one syllable.
- "Sometimes" has two syllables.
- "Wondering" has three syllables.
- "Relationship" has four syllables.
- "Incompatible" has five syllables.
Robert Pinsky: language has rhythm even when not writing poetry.
- "Was that a question?" has a different rhythm from "Yes, that was a question."
Meter involves choosing and arranging words to produce a repeated pattern.
Accent is relative to other words.
Meter is a predictable pattern of stresses (like beats in music).
Musical examples:
- Minuetto by Mozart. (more metrical rhythm)
- Piano concerto by Chopin. (more fluid rhythm, rubato)
Example of metrical poem: 'Twas the night before Christmas
- Pattern: two unstressed syllables, then one stressed syllable

Metrical foot: a unit of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Iambic: one unstressed, then one stressed syllable.
Iambic pentameter: five iambic feet per line.
- Examples from Shakespeare:
  - "If music be the food of love, play on."
  - "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?"
- These lines are divided such: one two three four five.

Ambiguity can be used with great effect in poetry.
Using a word at the end of the line with multiple meanings can engage the reader.

Nouns: name things, people, places.
Verbs: doing actions.
Specific, descriptive nouns and verbs are better.
Example: white pine is more specific than a tree.
Example: slink is more specific than to walk.
Examples of nouns:
- Coffee, Mocha, Cream, Foam, and Sugar.
- Chocolate, Cocoa, Cote D'Ivoire(Ivory Coast), and Ghana.
- Horse.
- Books.
- Guitar, cooking.
Examples of Verbs:
- Melt, chew, and crave.
- Ride, canter, trot, and balance.
- Ladle and whisk.

Adding "-ing" to a verb turns it into a noun or adjective.
Using the verb as an active verb will give a stronger effect.
It feels more definitive.
Example:
- "I stare at the water below, dare myself to try leaping."
- Revised to: "I stare at the water below, dare myself to leap."
- "Leap" is much stronger.
Words that don't carry meaning on their own should not end a line.

A sentence or independent clause ends at the end of the line.
Recognizable by a period or other terminal punctuation.
If you would expect a period at the end of the line, it is an end-stopped line even without the period.

There is no stop or pause at the end of the line; the sentence continues.
The line ends mid-sentence or mid-independent clause.
In poems with punctuation, look for lines with no punctuation.
If a line ends with a comma, it can usually be described as enjambed, but it's maybe not as pronounced.
In poems without punctuation, there's no natural pause at the end of the line.
Example from Gwendolyn Brooks' "Sadie and Maude":
- "Maude went to college. Sadie stayed at home. Sadie scraped life with a fine-tooth comb. So lines one, two, and four are end stopped. Line three is enjammed. Sadie scraped life."
Example poem about abortions:
- The line is "You will never neglect or beat them" is enjambed.