I edited my original post to elaborate. Anyway, Shakespeare would do it to depict how some of his characters would be in a frantic or agitated state. Juliet in particular has lines that are heavily enjambed when she imagines Tybalt's ghost going after Romeo (to depict a sense of panic) or when she starts to get hot and bothered thinking about Romeo in her "Gallop apace" soliloquy (to depict that feeling you get when you're crushing really hard on someone). Also, generally, it's used to avoid monotony. A twenty-line poem where all lines end with a sentence can drag, after all.
But again, the best analogy I can give without resorting to actual poetry is Jane Fonda's pause before announcing Parasite as Best Picture.
- And the Oscar goes to Parasite
- And the Oscar goes to
Parasite
The information is the same but the reading is slightly different. Whereas the first one is emphatic and immediately deflates the anxiety in the room, easing some very anxious minds, the second one exquisitely milks every last second of drama out of a very tense scene, pausing just long enough to give a momentary heart attack to the people convinced it was going to 1917, before finally welcoming everyone to a moment in history. Neither line is inherently better than the other but in this particular context, I prefer the second one.
To end, I know this poem is a meme these days but it's why this poem is so good. There's a lot of ways we can interpret it but if we just take it at face value (as in, just an admission of a deed devoid of any metaphorical considerations), what do the enjambed lines and lack of punctuation do?
This Is Just To Say
William Carlos Williams
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
But again, the best analogy I can give without resorting to actual poetry is Jane Fonda's pause before announcing Parasite as Best Picture.
- And the Oscar goes to Parasite
- And the Oscar goes to
Parasite
The information is the same but the reading is slightly different. Whereas the first one is emphatic and immediately deflates the anxiety in the room, easing some very anxious minds, the second one exquisitely milks every last second of drama out of a very tense scene, pausing just long enough to give a momentary heart attack to the people convinced it was going to 1917, before finally welcoming everyone to a moment in history. Neither line is inherently better than the other but in this particular context, I prefer the second one.
To end, I know this poem is a meme these days but it's why this poem is so good. There's a lot of ways we can interpret it but if we just take it at face value (as in, just an admission of a deed devoid of any metaphorical considerations), what do the enjambed lines and lack of punctuation do?
This Is Just To Say
William Carlos Williams
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
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