Line Break
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A line break is the place where a line of poetry ends, unguided by traditional punctuation conventions. Line breaks are important in poetry because they so often introduce ambiguity and affect meaning. Poets use line breaks to lead readers into multiple understandings and surprising ideas, as well as to control the flow at which they encounter ideas and images. For example:
Because as they cut it was that special green, they decided
To make a woman of the fresh hay….
The line break in Cynthia MacDonald's poem forces the reader to pause slightly, which reinforces the surprise of the next line. The technique of carrying a sentence over into another line is called enjambment. Its opposite, using punctuation to signify a break, is end-stopping.
A line break is the place where a line of poetry ends, unguided by traditional punctuation conventions. Line breaks are important in poetry because they so often introduce ambiguity and affect meaning. Poets use line breaks to lead readers into multiple understandings and surprising ideas, as well as to control the flow at which they encounter ideas and images. For example:
Because as they cut it was that special green, they decided
To make a woman of the fresh hay….
Line Break Exercise
Copy and paste Willie Perdomo's poem "Funeral" into Microsoft Word.
You will then play with the line breaks, the stanzas, and the punctuation to create different versions of the same poem.
Version #1
Break the poem up into five stanzas.
You choose how long or short you want the lines to be.
Version #2
Break the poem up into one long stanza with short short lines (two or three words per line).
Remove all punctuation and capitalization
Version #3
Break the poem up into as many stanzas as you want using any combination of short and long lines.
Feel free to maintain punctuation or remove it.
Do not feel confined to the left margin, but do not center the poem.
Questions:
Which version (other than the original) best captures the spirit of the poem? Be prepared to defend your answer. Think about how the story unfolds and how the line breaks can work to make the reader stop on certain points or move quickly through a section.
It was the first time I saw Edwin wearing a suit. It was the first time I saw Chino cry. Set up by his right hand man, they found Ed in his Cherokee on a Washington, D.C. street, smoke coming out of every hole in his body. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I realized I went to more funerals than parties this summer. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I saw Edwin Jr. running around the lobby, asking us why we were looking at his father sleep. I think about El Barrio summers: Ed’s a cop and I’m a robber. Money was something you asked an old time hustler for so you could go to the movies on Sunday. It wasn’t suppose to kill you. We ran through the streets like there were no red lights. I asked God to look out for all of us—dead and alive. I walked home alone, refusing to get high, and I thought how if you looked close enough, you could see a hole on Ed’s forehead. I walked home alone, refusing to get high, thinking how my death will just be another reason why my boys will pour beer on the street before they drink.
You will then play with the line breaks, the stanzas, and the punctuation to create different versions of the same poem.
Version #1
Break the poem up into five stanzas.
You choose how long or short you want the lines to be.
Version #2
Break the poem up into one long stanza with short short lines (two or three words per line).
Remove all punctuation and capitalization
Version #3
Break the poem up into as many stanzas as you want using any combination of short and long lines.
Feel free to maintain punctuation or remove it.
Do not feel confined to the left margin, but do not center the poem.
Questions:
Which version (other than the original) best captures the spirit of the poem? Be prepared to defend your answer. Think about how the story unfolds and how the line breaks can work to make the reader stop on certain points or move quickly through a section.
It was the first time I saw Edwin wearing a suit. It was the first time I saw Chino cry. Set up by his right hand man, they found Ed in his Cherokee on a Washington, D.C. street, smoke coming out of every hole in his body. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I realized I went to more funerals than parties this summer. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I saw Edwin Jr. running around the lobby, asking us why we were looking at his father sleep. I think about El Barrio summers: Ed’s a cop and I’m a robber. Money was something you asked an old time hustler for so you could go to the movies on Sunday. It wasn’t suppose to kill you. We ran through the streets like there were no red lights. I asked God to look out for all of us—dead and alive. I walked home alone, refusing to get high, and I thought how if you looked close enough, you could see a hole on Ed’s forehead. I walked home alone, refusing to get high, thinking how my death will just be another reason why my boys will pour beer on the street before they drink.
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