How To Use Line Breaks in Poetry

#poetry #writingtips #writing

Let's talk about line breaks! In this video I discuss the role of white / negative space in poetry as well as the function of enjambment.

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[TumbleFourYa]

I've reignited my interest in reading and writing poetry in this past month or so, and stumbling across your channel has been very helpful. Thank you!

[OldBluesChapterandVerse]

What an absolutely wonderful, neatly packed video. I was once verbally attacked over the issue of line breaks in reading poetry aloud — by poet Sharon Doubiago, in a seminar she was teaching. It was her very weird contention that a line break’s pause should last twice as long as the line preceding it took to read. Now — this approach was new to me. And it seemed ludicrous. And when she had us take turns reading poems aloud along this line of thinking, I found myself bristling with irritation. She was rhapsodizing over how everyone read, even as the students reading had quizzical looks on their faces and seemed unbelieving that this famous poet was of this bizarre opinion. When it came my turn, instead of reading, I merely stated that I had always believed a line break was more for the eye and the mind than the ear, and that a poem should be read as one reads prose, but a little more slowly and with more careful attention paid to rhythm, punctuation, alliteration, rhyme schemes, etc. And she LOST HER MIND. I was seated next to her at the table, and she stood up from her chair, used her sheaf of papers as an extension of her hand to point into my face and shouted at me: “That’s bull-fuckin-shit!” It took everything in my power not to deck her. When class broke for 10 minutes, I was seething and multiple of my classmates told me they couldn’t believe what had happened. It was past the final drop date in the semester, but I was allowed to finish the poetry course as an independent study with my advisor, novelist Alyson Hagy — owing to exceptional, extenuating circumstances.

[kevintmusic]

Excellent explanation and tips on enjambment! Actually, I think Line-Breaks is a much better term, because to Enjamb feels like it implies jamming things together, rather than breaking them apart into two lines, which is probably why the term enjambment had confused me for so long. I understand that the etymology of the French word might have nothing to do with the word Jam, yet, the similar sounds of the two words confuse the diametrically opposed meanings. Thanks for the great explanation

[paudreamer]

Love this video!! I've only recently been getting into reading poetry and I found this so interesting. Thanks for sharing!

[LaurenNutella]

loving these videos! would love love love to see your review on Orion Carloto’s newest poetry book “Film for her”. I have a of questions about that book I was hoping you could answer based on your speculations

[jadenwritesoninstax]

ahh first comment! :) love your work as always <3

[ToastbackWhale]

That line about "a little death" is even better because the "mort" in mortgage comes from the Latin for death -- it's a loan until you die, in essence.

You seem like the kind of person who would know this but I appreciated the wordplay too much to not make sure it was pointed out.

[lynneivison]

enjambement - pronounced like the 'je' in French - it is a French word. Interesting video but en JAM ement reminds me of JAM.

[oddysysorry]

i think we think too much about line breaks and spaces.

[kingkweku]

Where are the examples on paper using ( / )... this presentation is lots of talking but very little practical example...after your presentation, you should show some practical work on paper and how to use those breaks in the poems...bare in mind that most of these videos are for academic purposes and not just oral narration. So most people really want to see things on paper and practice the use of line breaks for school, not here just to hear an oral explanation.