Many of the technical aspects of how we make our line breaks - things to do with syntax, speed, weights of syllables, etc - apply equally to both metrical and non-metrical poetry.
However, as has been pointed out recently in non-met, the tools for discourse are not being used. So I thought I would start a thread where we can discuss the ways in which we make our LINES when we write.
Even in metrical poetry this is an issue; we change sentences in order to end a line on a certain word, or sound, or type of word; and in free verse a poet may want to think about what length of line he or she is after in a given place. In other words, there are restrictions and freedoms in both "forms". How do we make our decisions?
Who are the masters of line breaks/enjambment? What effect is produced by unenjambed lines as opposed to enjambed ones? Do we have any lines in poems which we particularly admire on the basis of this aspect?
Of course in thinking about line breaks we are thinking about the structure and shape of the whole line, so caesurae (which are of course also line breaks, only in the middle) must also be part of this conversation.
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Threaded Mode
