I quarrel not with destiny,
But make the best of everything—
The best is good enough for me.
Leave discontent alone, and she
Will shut her mouth and let you sing.
I quarrel not with destiny.
I take some things, or let 'em be—
Good gold has always got the ring;
The best is good enough for me.
Since fate insists on secrecy,
I have no arguments to bring—
I quarrel not with destiny.
The fellow that goes "haw" for "gee"
Will find he hasn't got full swing.
The best is good enough for me.
One only knows our needs, and he
Does all of the distributing.
I quarrel not with destiny:
The best is good enough for me.
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effective enjambments
To me, this is the best enjambment(ST2: L1&L2):
"Leave discontent alone, and she
Will shut her mouth and let you sing."
It makes you want to know just what "she" is gonna do.
It is like music flowing in your eyes.
This one (ST5 L1&L2):
"The fellow that goes "haw" for "gee"
Will find he hasn't got full swing." To me the "'s are annoying and not as effective.
This is another good one (ST6 L1&L2)
Doesn't flow as neatly..
"One only knows our needs, and he
Does all of the distributing."
Wow, without even trying I have found that must enjambments occur at L1 and L2 of a stanza. Always learning..
It seems I use enjambment in my poetry also, I just didn't know what it was called. Very effective tool for my Poetry Craft Toolbox.
*stomps
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The mild enjambment between lines 1 and 2 emphasizes the contrast between the ideas expressed in the two lines, and the suspense created between them, while still keeping them as one continuous sentence: the poet does not quarrel with destiny; What does he do instead? He makes the best of everything. This leads into the enjambment between lines 2 and 3, which connects the attitude of making the best of everything with the conclusion that "the best is good enough for me."
In lines 4 and 5,
"Leave discontent alone, and she
Will shut her mouth and let you sing."
The enjambment creates a nice alliteration between the end words of each line, "she" and "sing" which improves the flow of the poem. It also emphasizes the effect of the terminal caesura in line four and increases the impact of the phrase "shut her mouth" which provides contrast with the less blunt phrasing of the rest of the poem.
Lines 7 and 8:
“I take some things, or let 'em be--
Good gold has always got the ring;”
takes the rather vague statement in line 7 and relates it to something concrete: gold. It also highlights the contrast between the ambivalent attitude of line 7 (some things, take them or let them be, whatever) and the definite statement in line eight (good gold ALWAYS has the ring). Then there is another enjambment between line 8 and line 9: “The best is good enough for me.” That enjambment serves to connect the refrain to the rest of the tercet stanza, rather than leaving it disjointed and choppy on its own. It also reinforces the relationship between the ideas shown in the first two lines and the repeated statement that “the best is good enough for me.”
Lines 10 and 11:
“Since fate insists on secrecy,
I have no arguments to bring—“
The enjambment here shows cause and effect: since fate does this, I’ll do that. Then the enjambment between lines 11 and 12 comes in to play:
“I have no arguments to bring--
I quarrel not with destiny.”
This enjambment connects two lines that state the same basic concept: the poet’s non-confrontational attitude. He has no arguments, he does not quarrel. He is accepting and serene, and possibly a bit resigned.
Lines 13 and 14:
“The fellow that goes "haw" for "gee"
Will find he hasn't got full swing.”
This enjambment is a breaking apart of a continuous sentence, divided into it’s subject (the guy that gets his “haw” and “gee” mixed up) and what that guy will do (find he hasn’t got full swing).
Lines 16 and 17:
One only knows our needs, and he
Does all of the distributing.
Once again, this creates suspense between the lines...the "he" introduced in line sixteen obviously knows something we don't (he's the only one who knows our needs), so what is it that he's going to do? The distributing. Then comes the enjambment between lines 18 and 19:
I quarrel not with destiny:
The best is good enough for me.
Since the one who knows our needs is doing the distributing, the reader ends the quatrain with the conclusion that is does no good to quarrel with destiny; he accepts the best for what it is, and knows that his needs will be taken care of. The enjambments in the quatrain emphasize the cause and effect relationships between the lines and give a sense of a conclusion being reached.
Yikes, this turned out longer than I thought. Blessings, Jen.
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Excellent Technical Review Emphemeral! Well done and complete response.
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Enjambment in this poem adds a flow through chopped off lines, if you get what I mean. IT also cuts down a thought into two parts making it easier for the reader to digest and tune into the writer's thoughts.
FOr example
I quarrel not with destiny, (enjambed line)
But make the best of everything-- (enjambed line)
The best is good enough for me.
After line1 there is a puase before the writer passes on to line2. the enjambment here creates a question or asuspense of what the writers wants before he goes on to say the best is good enough for him.
SImilarly in stnaza 2
Leave discontent alone, and she (enjambed line)
Will shut her mouth and let you sing.
I quarrel not with destiny.
Line 1 and line 2 form a continous sentence which if it had not been cut down would not only have been too long to read but distracted from the flow of the poem
The pattern of enjambment is 2 in para1, 3, 4, 6 while in the rest he uses only 1, which anyway is enough to smothen the flow of the poem.
The use of enjamments prevent it falling intoa s ing sng routine and add depth and a easy flow to it. An easy flow to a poem make it easier to read and focus on the meaning and theme rather than the rhyming.
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Hmmm MBunny. I think this would have sufficed:
"I see that he uses two enjambed lines in all but the second and fifth stanzas, in which he only uses one, but he certainly gives himself plenty of roaming capability ....he uses it to help himself adhere to the strict villanelle form .... which makes the transition from rhyme to rhyme feel easier, and less practiced .. it's easy to read, but not to fall into a boring sing-song rhythm...."
Certainly "name calling" in the class is not allowed. Not allowed also is calling yourself negative names, MBunny. We're focusing on the Technical aspects and use of poetry tools, not personalized editorals.
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OK, since Lovespoon apparently wants me to just repeat what everyone else is saying over and over again, with no personal flair - even though he said their was no failing the lesson, my input was apparently, once again, not technical enough, (and the only reason I am upset is because so far I've had to re-do nearly everything in the class, because he doesn't explain what it is he wants in blunt words) and so - the enjambment helps the rhythm, and flow.
We are supposed to comment only on the enjambled lines .. and so - reading only then enjambled lines alone makes absolutely no sense. ("make a comment only about what the enjambed lines mean to you?")
You can't comment on only part of a poem, or you're missing the meaning of the poem entirely.
But - enjambment, as I said, gives the poem a conversational feel, more personal. The enjambed lines are NOTHING by themselves. What they are is simply sentances split in twain, in order to adhere to a strict form of poetry. This does remove the choppy feeling, as it makes it more fluid (as I said in my previous comment, in less words). I really don't know what I'm supposed to be saying here.
Enjambment came naturally to me, I didn't even know it had a name until you mentioned it, I just thought it was something everyone used naturally in their poems. I suppose that's something to say - it is natural. It is not, however, natural to stop abruptly after every 10 syllables ..
If it were, I would be talking like this.
And it would be quite lacking in interest.
Though I suppose it would be easier.
There are things I wouldn't worry about.
For an example : run-on sentances.
That was humor, by the way. Enjambment is a tool that lets you extend your thoughts, and, in villanelles, gives you freer reign to set the stage for your refrains. I am positive that it makes the villanelle much easier to write, for instead of warping the English language to rhyme words, you can just stop a line in the middle of a sentance ..
But this will probably get me in trouble for not talking about the poem at hand ..
I see that he uses two enjambed lines in all but the second and fifth stanzas, in which he only uses one, but he certainly gives himself plenty of roaming capability .. alluding to my previous droning on, he uses it to help himself adhere to the strict villanelle form, without sounding like a moron .. which makes the transition from rhyme to rhyme feel easier, and less practiced .. it's easy to read, but not to fall into a boring sing-song rhythm .. I'm sure this could be misused by someone, as well, but he uses it very well ..
Ok, I seriously don't know what else Lovespoon might want me to write, so I'm leaving at this. -
Well, the enjambment mainly helped the rhythm and flow, I thought. They kept the poem moving, and kept the reader from getting distracted, since there was a real link between the lines. The link is in both meaning and rhythm. There's very few important points that a poet can make in one little line, and enjambment lets Riley stretch his points across two or three lines here. The enjambment, along with caesura, gave the poem a conversational, casual tone as well.
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In this poem, the enjambed lines help to relieve what could have been a "sing-song" kind of rhythm.
"Leave discontent alone, and she
Will shut her mouth and let you sing."
These lines become one meaningful sentence because of the emjambment, as do "One only knows our needs, and he
Does all of the distributing."
The reader's thoughts are drawn more to meaning than to form by this technique. -
In this poem I think it the enjambment makes it flow smoother, and have some anticipation of what the next line will bring. This poem does pull you in and make you feel as though you are there. Melody
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It makes you want to read more to find out what is coming next. I really liked this poem. I can't wait to read more of these poems. Maryann22
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As I said in my comment on the special credit villanelle (though I wasn't aware what I was commenting on was enjambment), they give the reader a kind of anticipation, a rush to read the next line, and finish the thought .. it keeps the poem from being boring, creating enthusiasm through out. It also makes the impact of a strict form less apparent, giving it a more personal feel, like a fluid conversation.
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The enjabments in the poem gives it a good flow, and a good voice. The pauses give the enhances of personal talk in the poem. For example in line 7-9
"I take some things, or let 'em be--
Good gold has always got the ring;
The best is good enough for me."
The enjabment after line 7 makes the reader feel like the poet was talking to them face to face. Giving more personal and conversational tone to line 8 and 9.
Seraph
Edited on Mar 02, 7:23 p.m. because ''. -
Some of the enjambed lines seem to give me a pause but yet flowing voice almost like they are pulling you to the end in a few cases.
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