The Art of the Poetic Line

by James Longenbach

The Art Of series is a new line of books reinvigorating the practice of craft and criticism. Each book will be a brief, witty, and useful exploration of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry by a writer impassioned by a singular craft issue. The Art Of volumes will provide a series of sustained examinations of key but sometimes neglected aspects of creative writing by some of contemporary literature's finest practioners.

"Poetry is the sound of language organized in lines." James Longenbach opens this provocative book with that essential statement. Through a range of examples―from Shakespeare and Milton to Ashbery and Glück―Longenbach describes the function of line in metered, rhymed, syllabic, and free-verse poetry. The Art of the Poetic Line is a vital new resource by one of America's most important critics and most engaging poets.

Genres: Poetry, Writing, Nonfiction, Crafts, Essays, Criticism, Literature

120 pages, Paperback

First published December 26, 2007

About the author

James Longenbach is a poet and critic whose work is often featured in publications such as The New Yorker, Paris Review, and Slate. He lives in Rochester, New York.

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am (slowly) reading my way through "The Art of ..." series and finding it extremely rewarding. This entry is a very interesting study of, as you might guess, the use of lineation in poetry, and how it can work either with or against syntax.

I loved James Longenbach's The Resistance to Poetry which I found evocative and exciting. The Art of the Poetic Line is more straightforward and accessible. He uses excerpts from poets ranging from Shakespeare to Ashbery to Louise Gluck (among others) and teases apart their use of the line and the ways in which it creates semantic and sonic power.

All of which is to say that this is a very interesting book, especially to people writing-or reading-poetry. It definitely increased my skill as a reader although I feel like I should read it at least twice more to really do it justice. Although it's a short work, it's dense. There's a lot of information in it, as well as the opportunity to enjoy some wonderful poetry.

[Julene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This whole series is excellent. I heard James Longenbach speak from this book at AWP in NYC and I was transfixed wanting to get it all down. At the end I asked if everything he said was in the book and he said yes. This book is very helpful for my own poetry, he explains in a way I've not heard before, about what it means to annotate and to parse lines:

to Annotate lines is to cut against a grammatical unit—to annotating the syntax with emphasis the syntex itself would not provide. The negative aspect of annotating is that it can make it appear the author is jazzing up uninteresting lines by cutting them.

to Parse lines is when they are not end—stopped, but they follow the normative turns of the syntex-broken at predictable points. It emphasizeds the given contour of sentence. The negative aspect is that it can be a dull read.

He also discusses enjambment, "lines that end when the sentence keeps going" and how it introduces a formal tension.

Nice explanations, simple, clear and he uses great examples; poets include Emily Dickinson, Marianne Moore, William Carlos Williams, James Wright, John Ashberry, T.S. Eliot, and more....

I highly recommend this book, and the whole series. It's great to see my line endings in a new light after reading his book. Thank you Graywolf for this series!

[Jenna Goldsmith]

Rereading was a delight.

[Taylor Franson-Thiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was sooooo helpful for me for MFA exam omg

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Longenbach's explanation of line endings as opposed to line breaks helpful. One of the first points he makes is that the term line break is an inaccurate metaphor because when a line ends, the syntax may not also break, and that it is the relationship between line and syntax that forms the music of poems. I also found the discussion of various types of enjambement (annotating line and parsing line) to be really interesting, particularly as I am reading Chronic by D.A. Powell. I also finally have a working definition of blank verse/iambic pentameter in my head! He uses one of King Lear's speeches as an example. I now have a clearer understanding of the differences between metered verse, syllabic verse, and free verse. The definitions in these books were basic enough for me to follow along, and now I realize it is not all that difficult if I practice and, of course, read more. I feel like I can be a little more savvy in my reading when I am looking at a poet's line craft.

[Oliver Ho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having just read Dean Young's "Art of Recklessness," this book was a bit of a comedown simply because it's more straightforward and less of a mind-explosion. Nevertheless, it's interesting and ultimately useful and rewarding. I'm glad to have learned and thought about Longenbach's concepts here involving parsing lines, annotating lines and end-stopping lines, and about the impact of variation involving all three styles. I can see returning to this book often.

[Susan White · Rating 2 out of 5]

Useful for sure but also somewhat dry and a bit over my head at times. It’s probably a four-star read for its usefulness to poets and the study of poetry but two stars for my overall enjoyment of the text.

[Leanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series of craft books. And this one is my favorite so far. The topic was so interesting. Anyone interested in poetry and how to read poetry will appreciate this deep dive into the line, which he doesn’t refer to as line breaks but line endings. It was fascinating to think about how they can function in free verse as well as in meter and syllabic verse. And as somebody who is not that knowledgeable about poetry, it was interesting to think of the line apart from syntax and in terms of sonic possibilities

I appreciated the introduction to Oppen and Bibart. Very sad to hear the author passed away.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Kat for gifting me this book! It was super informative! (Even if I was lost at some points I think I learned A LOT)

[Jonathan Tennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The “Art Of” series is a new line of books from Graywolf Press dealing with craft and criticism. I read this for school and was impressed with Longenbach’s knowledge and the way he easily conveyed his points about poetry. Craft books are often boring as hell, especially craft books about poetry. But Longenbach’s is a breeze. If you like poetry, the craft of writing it, or are a grad student like me – this book is great.

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent instructional text. If you've ever wondered why lines end the way they do or how to vary our own poetics, this is the book for you. Clearly written for a writer who is already versed in contemporary American poetics that is seeking to delve into another layer of their craft; read-not for the workshop faint-hearted.

[OK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed Longenbach’s take on the sonic quality of poems, as well as his explanation of parsing vs. annotated lines. I wish he referenced fewer dead white poets and more contemporary poets, esp poets of colour who are doing innovative things w enjambment and form. Didn’t love the third section—way over my head.

Overall: useful tools / technique / analytic foundation.

3/5

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful terminology -- endstopped, parsing, and annotating lines -- and clear thinking, as always with Longenbach. A little ponderous at times.

[V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, sweet. Finally criticism that is useful to the act of writing poetry.

[Adam Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm just going to keep pretending to know what I'm doing.

[Katie Farris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a wonderful book on craft; Longenbach is such a talented poet in his own right, and he brings that sensibility into his close readings of other poets' work. His examination of line-break broke down the typical end-stopped vs. enjambed dichotomy further-- lines could be "parsing" (i.e. syntactically complete; those lines that feel end-stopped even if they aren't), or, to borrow an idea from John Hollander, could be "annotating"-- i.e. could cut against syntax, creating interesting and unexpecteted shifts (what I had, up until now, called something like a really enjambed line, hah!).

As a person who considers herself primarily a prose-poet, I was very excited to see his final chapter was dedicated, in large part, to discussing "line" as a concept that's useful even in prose (whether fiction whether prose poetry), and a very short discussion of what I was most curious about-- what seems to me to be a fourth option (after end-stopped, parsing, and annotating lines) where the poet chooses not to use punctuation in the line, and packs syntactic units together in a way that's somewhat tricky to read, or could be read in a multitude of ways. This seemed like a bit of an afterthought in the context of the book, but it makes for interesting food for thought going forward.

Highly recommended for poets and anyone who loves learning about the technique of poetry!

[Paula Horstman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for the newly-initiated, the casually-interested-in-poetry-type.
This short but useful little book (which reads more like a short thesis) assumes you have some familiarity with poetry, because it spends little to no time defining elements and nearly all of its time emphasizing the relationship between those elements. For example: end-stopped lines and syntax, iambic pentameter with diction, etc. Granted, if you're picking up a book like this, you probably already have that basic foundation and are ready to go.

So if you're able to keep up, you realize this is a gem. Poems are examined not just for their originality in diction, but, as the author puts it - their ability to allow the reader to engage in them as an active participant. To that end, good poetry becomes not about simple recitation of past events, but as something to discover. "Reading a poem" runs parallel to writing the poem itself, if the reader pays close enough attention to how (or why) the lines are split, how the trains of thought are structured, and how the sonic rhythm of diction unfolds from beginning to end.

I can also appreciate free-verse more, knowing that not all line-endings, regardless of rhyme or meter, end arbitrarily. Other factors, like the 'sonic rhythm', play a big role.
Overall, this urges you to think more precisely about poetry, by identifying the elements employed by writers in order that we feel something by the end of the poem.

And this advice is good as any: if you like the way a certain poem makes you feel, gobble up all the poetry you can by that writer.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is essentially an extended essay on what determines a line of poetry and how poets use line to create meaning within their poems. Longenbach uses many great examples from a set of well-respected poets (Shakespeare, Williams, Yeats, etc.). I would recommend this for writers of poetry as opposed to those who only read poetry, as I found this to be more of a reflective read than a purely educational one. As a writer, this book may help you to realize why you "feel" a line change should occur and may inspire you to toy with line lengths and breaks. Aside from that, I give this three stars as I found the topics to progress very well in a well-written fashion, but there was a noticeable repetition of the same two or three ideas throughout (I realize this is actually a part of Longenbach's argument, but these ideas could have been delivered an a shorter span than even the relatively short 120-pages it contained).

Overall, a good read for poets that will cause you to reflect on your craft, and possibly an interesting read for those who enjoy reading poetry.

[Jesse Hilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good short booklet, really, offering somewhat technical and subtle meditations on how poets “end their lines” and why. Longenbach doesn’t call them line breaks. Some familiarity with rhyme, meter, syntax is needed to get this message. I may have to reread the book to soak it up better, and certainly dip into the suggested reading in the back, for you can only truly dig poetry by reading poets. I joked with my poetry workshop that to get line breaks you had to go away to a Shaolin monastery for five years and punch a stone wall every day before coming back to the world, resurfacing to write poems: it’s such an intricate art form and many people just arbitrarily end lines with little concept of why. I do it too. But reading books such as this and figuring out distinctions between lines — parsing lines, annotating lines, and end-stopped lines — is good book learning.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've ever been confounded by a poem with weird line breaks or stanza breaks or, hell, even if you've been confounded by Joyce's Ulysses (which, the very act of opening that book and beginning to read it is what it is to be confounded by a work of literature), this book will give you tools you can use to dig into poetry, ride its waves, sound its depths, walk its path--choose your own metaphor, but you will learn how to read poetry more carefully and draw more pleasure from it if you read this book. I'd give it five stars, but I don't give works of criticism five stars since by definition it's derivative--but rest assured that this derivative will excite you as it reveals what makes poetry like no other art form.

[John Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Line and syntax are often overlooked but important parts of poetry. Indeed, once one begins to dispense with meter and rhyme, as many modern poets do, there is little else to distinguish it from prose. This book provides a short but useful discussion of the uses and powers of line in poetry. In the end, I continue to agree with Robert Frost: writing poetry without meter is like playing tennis without a net, and the traditional elements of rhyme and meter are necessary for true poetry. Line, however, also plays a useful role, making this book worthwhile reading for anyone interested in poetry.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may have learn more in this short read than in my 3 years of studying English at uni. Not sure how accurate that statement is, but definitely not hyperbolic. You should read this and reread it as I will to really absorb it. I love how he deconstructs the way a poem works, he does it quite lyrically actually. Criticism is an art in itself I guess. Anyway, I'm gonna recommend this to my English lecturer as I think it should be on all English students' reading lists.

[Andrew Kamis · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Longenbach gives a very thoughtful and analytical approach to the importance of line usage in poetry. His instruction includes the basic foundations of writing a poem, including the three different ways poets can end their lines of poetry. After reading, I had a better understanding of how to properly meter my poems and how to arrange the syntax in meaningful ways. I recommend reading if you are trying to better yourself as poet, or even just as a writer in general.

[Bibliophile10 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Longenbach presents an insightful examination of the unit of the line. At times I wished that he was clearer with definitions--his take on syntax, for example, differs from mine, and I wanted to understand it. Overall, though, poets and students of literature should find this book, much like a fine poem, worth their while.

[Kim Faner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the books I dare say should be a required reading for anyone who creates poetry. It is short and precise, talking about lineation, which what makes poems works of poetry. Longenbach writes in a language anyone can understand. He provides sample poems and dissects them with knowledge and confidence in the topic.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Singularly obsessive? Maybe ... but worth it. He dismantles and reassembles both poetry and prose and invites the reader to see why choices were made, and how different a piece of writing could be if different choices were made. A hands-on look at the inner mechanisms of poems. It also can be used as evidence whenever a rogue editor tries to mess with your punctuation.

[Sarai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although Longenbach brings up many great examples and points, he presents them in a way that assumes a similar poetic experience between himself and the reader. And, I disagree with a great deal of what he says.

[Sieara DeLone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very intriguing and educational. As a poet, I learned a lot that I want to implement, however it is not a page turner. I put it down for way too long at a time. Though it is great, it is dense. And for this time of my life I just couldn’t complete it as quickly. None the less, great book.

[Marianne Mersereau · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book seems best suited as a text to accompany a class. I was able to glean some useful information about lineation from reading it however. The author does a good job of supporting his thesis that poetry is the "sound of language organized in lines."

[Luigi Sposato · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very informative work on poetry that allows the reader the answers to their questions early on, but unless they dig deeper, they will be of little value.

So much can be said about a line and how it should and shouldn't be patterned, and all of that and more is described in this book.