poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

, a dropped line is a line which is broken into two

lines Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...

, but where the second part is indented to the horizontal position it would have had as an unbroken line. For example, in the poem "The Other Side of the River" by Charles Wright, the first and second lines form a dropped line, as do the fourth and fifth lines:

Use in modern poetry

Dropped lines have a variety of functions and uses. In Robert Denham's words, a dropped line is "a spatial as well as temporal feature, affecting both the eye and ear." It may be used to determine the visual appearance of the line as a whole. Wright, for example, uses dropped lines to reference landscape paintings, especially by

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...

and

Giorgio Morandi Giorgio Morandi (July 20, 1890 – June 18, 1964) was an Italian painter and printmaker who specialized in still life. His paintings are noted for their tonal subtlety in depicting simple subjects, which were limited mainly to vases, bottles, b ...

, explaining why his use of dropped line "can be seen as imitating the sense of horizontal rhythm prevalent in paintings by Cézanne." Modern poets who are known for using dropped lines include Wright,

Carl Phillips Carl Phillips (born 1959) is an American writer and poet. He is a Professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis. Early life Phillips was born in Everett, Washington. He was born a child of a military family, moving year-by-year unti ...

, and

Edward Hirsch Edward M. Hirsch (born January 20, 1950) is an American poet and critic who wrote a national bestseller about reading poetry. He has published nine books of poems, including ''The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems'' (2010), which brings toget ...

Use in dramatic texts

Lines which are broken between two voices, as in the first two lines in the following scene in ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'', may also be called dropped lines. In this case, the line is broken to reflect a change in character while preserving a steady

iambic pentameter Iambic pentameter () is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called "feet". "Iambi ...

across the entire line. In classical tragedy this technique of dividing a single verse line between two or more characters is called ''

antilabe Antilabe (from the Greek: ἀντι "mutually" or "corresponding", λαβή, "grip" or "handle") is a rhetorical technique in verse drama or closet drama, in which a single verse line of dialogue is distributed on two or more characters, voices, ...

'' and functions "as a means of heightening dramatic tension." It was "frequently utilized by

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

dramatists"Eggenberger, p. 219. such as Shakespeare:

References

Poetic devices {{poetry-stub Literary terminology