Sturgeon's Law

Sandra has a post on line breaks at the instigation of Brent Goodman, whose blog I was previously unaware of but which I'll be reading more often now. Since I have a very weak spot for micro-focused discussions like this, I thought I'd throw out some ideas, though not likely an entire theory of line breaks.

I think a lot of the discussions, on Brent's blog and on Sandra's (as well as a recent discussion on an Internet forum I visit, which I'll cover in a bit) are actually conflating two issues, line length and line break. They're obviously related, but line length is really "Where do I end the line in relation to the left margin or whatever leftmost point I'm using, and what total words are on that line" whereas line breaks cover "What word or phrase should I end the line on, and should there or should there not be a natural pause there, and what words begin the next line as a result, and will it surprise the reader or cause tension/disconnect" (and can also expand to include the line length concerns if your theory of line breaks is mostly about breaking the line when it reaches the proper length, as with the one Sandra mentions). I find that even in my poems where line length is a primary factor in determining line breaks, I still bring the second set of questions up regularly, so I'm going to address those primarily.

First and foremost, if I'm writing a non-prose poem, I think several of the line breaks need to have strong and clearly identifiable effects. Tautologically speaking, the effect of line breaks should be to have an effect. The types of effects are myriad: emphasizing a very important word that otherwise might be lost, emphasizing a specific theme by having it end the line, creating a sense of surprise by shifting tone or diction or subject immediately after the break, creating a double-meaning for a phrase, creating a similar effect to what the words should produce, ironically going against the literal sense of the phrase, etc. I'm sure I'll think of a half dozen more soon enough.

The effect certainly doesn't have to be the same for each line break (God forbid!), and I don't even necessarily have to say what I think each line break is doing in that vein (some may be there solely for length or coherence or convenience or setting up a future break or other equally unspectacular reasons). In any of my versified poems, however, I will be able to clearly and easily state my intention for one or more of the above strong effects on several of the breaks. Occasionally, I've had poems I considered otherwise perfectly good but which didn't have but maybe one or two (or even zero) such breaks--those poems ended up being rebroken or even reset as prose (and if I couldn't achieve either, I put them back in the draft folder).

In the discussion on line breaks recently on the Alsop Review Gazebo, one poster reproduced a list of potential reasons for line breaks from Steve Kowit's In the Palm of Your Hand: A Poet's Portable Workshop, a beginner's guide I read back in my more impressionable days of about 3-4 years ago (shut up). Some of the reasons have more to do with line length, so I'm going to skip them.

To mark the end of a sentence or phrase.

This is one of those filler reasons I suggested above, unless it's part of some sort of pattern, like all the lines are end-stopped to create a boom-boom-boom quick declarative statements effect, or breaking at the end of phrases to create a lengthy anaphora, or creating a thematic break in the same place.

To work against the end-of-phrase practice for the sake of pace or to create an unbroken flow (enjambment) or to force the reader to pause at a certain place.

Perhaps it's just not having the whole passage to read, but he seems to be suggesting enjambment can create two diametrically opposite results, either to create an unbroken flow or to force a pause. In my experience, enjambment is definitely not an unbroken flow. There's no way to avoid a little hiccup there, and I even try to put a mini half-beat pause on my enjambments when I read them aloud.

To emphasize a particular word or phrase (at the end of the line).

Definitely true, though this is one that sort of dances on the border of filler unless you're thinking what specific effect will come from the emphasis of the word or phrase.

To play the part of punctuation, clarify syntax or meaning.

Clarifying syntax and meaning is actually a really good one that I didn't think of up above. However, one of my big pet peeves in poems is when people arbitrarily use the end of the line as a comma in a way that fumbles the expectations they've set up or the basic grammar of the sentence.

To create surprise (e.g., when the first word or phrase of a line alters the meaning established in the previous one).

Yup, and this covers several different possible approaches and degrees of surprise.

To begin each line with the same word or phrase (anaphora).

Again, I think this ignores half of the equation if it's stated so starkly. Whereas the "to mark the end of a phrase or sentence" above can be too basic and focuses too much on the part before the break, this one focuses too much on what comes after the break.

I mean,
I can create a crappy anaphora if
I write a sentence with
I in it a lot and then break it so
I appear as the first word of each line,

but that doesn't give the break its proper due, obviously, since the words at the ends of the lines are damn weak.

To express an intuitive sense of what's needed.

Seriously, if you're going to include a catch-all like this, why are you even writing a list? "You can break a line for any reason or no reason as long as it feels intuitively right." Well, I suppose so, but why not just write that about every element of poetry in every chapter? Bleh.

To mask a rhyme--so the rhyme words don't fall at the ends of lines.

This is an interesting one that almost warrants its own discussion, since I think end rhyme is just fine, even in free verse or heterometrical or very loose accentual like I write. This particular break style is most important so you don't create an expectation of consistent end rhyme where there actually isn't (like in a rhyme near the beginning of the poem), but it can also be tied to the creating-a-sense-of-surprise reasoning, and the sonic effect of finding a rhyme internally can be quite pleasing, especially if the alternate end-word is thematically appropriate or elsewise connected.

To create a specific effect (eg, transcription of a conversation: Paul Blackburn's poem about a phone conversation with W.C. Williams).

Without the book in front of me, I'm not really sure, but this seems like another catch-all item to me.

To achieve an improvisational or open typography (esp. when lines don't all start at left margin).

This is also an interesting idea (and one that seems to combine length and breaks), but it's also more of an avant technique, so I can't really say much about it. Still, if that's what you're aiming for, seems like line breaks are one strong way to achieve it.

To reveal the poem's logic (eg, an alphabet poem, or acrostic).

See note on anaphora.

Edited to add: Line breaks contributing to rhythm/sonic effects are something I barely covered but definitely should have. Next time around...

Well, sorry about the length here. I don't really have a theory of line breaks, but here's a summing up of what I've said above and what I think about the issue:

• All line breaks have either a strong or mild effect of some sort.
  
• Just because a specific effect isn't listed here or in any such list doesn't mean it can't be achieved--the potential minute effects are nearly limitless.
  
• Line length and line breaks are closely tied but should be considered as separate issues for full impact.
  
• You should be aware of all your line breaks having an effect, and some of the effects should be strong, whether through one particularly impactful break or through a cumulative set of mild effects (all end-stops creating an anaphora, repeated enjambment creating a jagged feeling, etc.).
• The minimum a line break must consider for its effect is the word before and the word after the break. It may consider the entire line before and line after, or even more than that.
• A poem's line breaks may, but do not have to, all work toward a similar tone, effect, or style.
  
• The line breaks can be small background/supporting elements as other elements of poetry come to the fore, or they can play a very obvious role.
  

One final note about a line-break-related device I notice I use quite often: I like to have lines that have a phrase carried over the break from the previous line, a turn in the middle (often based on a comma or dash or period), and then a strangely juxtaposed phrase that you have to follow past the next break to figure out. These lines, taken as distinct units, are often very strange to read but make perfect sense in the context of the lines before and after--I maintain that that's largely a line break effect.

An example of what I mean, from "Crestone Conglomerate" (yes, I'm egotistically quoting myself because I couldn't immediately think of another poet who does this, though of course many do, and I'm writing this post too quickly to go look right now):

and six miles long, stuck under the desk

(Taken on its own, it sounds like a dirty riddle to me)

And in context:

The slab, four thousand feet thick
and six miles long, stuck under the desk
of the Sangre de Cristo range, peeks

Which makes a lot more syntactical sense, especially when I started the poem comparing geology to used gum.

Anyway, thanks for indulging my lengthy (perhaps even Abramsonesque) post--and I didn't even mention the connection to stanza breaks, dammit. I'd love to see responses or your own ideas on line breaks in the comments or on your own blogs.