[stylist] enjambment

[Lynda Lambert]

Barbara,
In response to your question to Jackie about the use of a run-on line in her poem:

Here is a good site for understanding what the extended line (or run-on line, or enjambment) is used for in a poem.

http://www.qwhatis.com/what-is-enjambment/

If you remember the poem "Trees" by Joyce Kilmore, that is a great example of how it works.   Once you realize what it is and how it is used, you will see it many more times - it is a very typical and normal traditional way of writing in a poem. It is a traditional and very old way of writing that is used by poets today all the time.

Here is that poem:

Trees
by
Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see 
A poem lovely as a tree. 

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest 
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast; 

A tree that looks at God all day, 
And lifts her leafy arms to pray; 

A tree that may in summer wear 
A nest of robins in her hair; 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain; 
Who intimately lives with rain. 

Poems are made by fools like me, 
But only God can make a tree.



Lynda