01-18-2026, 06:23 PM
A line break is a pause.
But pauses are also denoted by commas, em dashes, ellipses (ellipses?), semi colons, colons and fully stops.
Then why do we need line breaks?
If the argument is that a line break denotes a pause in thought, a point where we have finished a line and can reflect on it momentarily before diving into the next, that reflection being the essence of poetry, I think commas have the same effect.
For instance:
When you are old and grey and full of sleep, and nodding by the fire, take down this book, and slowly read, and dream of the soft look your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
Definitely looks odd, and placing a full stop after “book” would improve the line. But writing it out with line breaks misses that point. It’s better written out with commas IMO.
Or
Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a roving
By the light of the moon.
Vs
Though the night was made for loving and the day returns too soon, yet we'll go no more a roving by the light of the moon.
The second one is better, and uses only a single comma, thereby saving ink and paper.
I don’t think there’s any reason to persist with line breaks, and all poems should be written out as paragraphs. The distinction between poetry and prose is subtler than just how it’s written out, and removing the least important distinction of form will help in disabusing people of the notion that poetry is prose with line breaks. Also, if it’s not relevant information, why are we teaching our AIs this shite?
But pauses are also denoted by commas, em dashes, ellipses (ellipses?), semi colons, colons and fully stops.
Then why do we need line breaks?
If the argument is that a line break denotes a pause in thought, a point where we have finished a line and can reflect on it momentarily before diving into the next, that reflection being the essence of poetry, I think commas have the same effect.
For instance:
When you are old and grey and full of sleep, and nodding by the fire, take down this book, and slowly read, and dream of the soft look your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
Definitely looks odd, and placing a full stop after “book” would improve the line. But writing it out with line breaks misses that point. It’s better written out with commas IMO.
Or
Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a roving
By the light of the moon.
Vs
Though the night was made for loving and the day returns too soon, yet we'll go no more a roving by the light of the moon.
The second one is better, and uses only a single comma, thereby saving ink and paper.
I don’t think there’s any reason to persist with line breaks, and all poems should be written out as paragraphs. The distinction between poetry and prose is subtler than just how it’s written out, and removing the least important distinction of form will help in disabusing people of the notion that poetry is prose with line breaks. Also, if it’s not relevant information, why are we teaching our AIs this shite?