Journal Response #2

How does form (structure, rhythm, meter, line breaks) affect meaning in poetry? Provide specific examples and explain your reasoning.

This question is a curious one. Due to its curious nature I am unable to answer the question firstly, for I must explain my intrigue beforehand. The question asked implies that there is, in fact, a correlation between meaning and form. Albeit an axiom in some cases--E. E. Cummings' notorious form (notorious is used purposefully)--in the just of cases I don't believe form affects the sentiment that the poet is attempting to convey. With that being said, I do believe that how a poem is formed can have a significant effect on how a reader views the poem. For instance, E. E. Cummings' poem topics could be poignant and enthralling, but I still abhor the poems and wish to put them to flame every time my eyes unfortunately stumble upon one of them because their form is akin to this:

I love ca
ts becau
se they h
ave 4leg
s and st(a
re) at me
with eye
s

If you've stopped reading I hardly blame you, but bear with me a moment longer and I'll answer the question. Now I would find the question a great deal more logical if the word 'meaning' contained within the question was to be replaced with the word 'flow.' Thus the new question would read: "How does form (structure, rhythm, meter, line breaks) affect flow in poetry?"

A marvelous question, I'll answer it briskly. The human eyes are fickle things and are quick to judge something based on its appearance. A sentence that ends abruptly can be disconcerting but often leads one to search for the finishing part of the sentence. In a poem it is commonplace to find something of this sort:

/ u / u /
In the shadow hid A
u / u / u /
An unassuming squid. A

Although the sentence begins at the first line, it finishes with a period at the end of the second line. This does several things for a reader. It makes one sentence seem like two so as to augment the length of the poem by adding an implied pause and to set a less demanding standard for meter. Instead of hexameter--brought about if it was all one line--there is trimeter. The rhyme scheme, which is AA, is done in favor of sweetness of flow which can generally aid the reading of the poem depending on who reads it. Without the rhyme scheme:

In the shadow hides
An unassuming squid

This poem is identical in every facet to the previous one with the exception of the fourth word in the first line 'hides' which breaks the original rhyme scheme; some prefer the former, some the latter (former personally) Thus form has proved a fazing factor in the poem's flow.

*Note: As I was reading over what I had written I must concede to one fact... the tense of the poem is changed based on wording within the form; this can affect meaning.*