Ways to use punctuation in poetry

Suggestions on how to punctuate poetry

Elements such as commas, periods, dashes, and even semicolons are important because just like in prose or nonfiction, they tell the reader where to breathe and take a break from one idea to the next.

However, poetry is about breaking rules and norms. Here are some creative ways that you can incorporate some of our most common punctuation marks into moments of drama, precision, and resonance.

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Line breaks add impact to language

In prose, you begin a new paragraph with an idea that is distinct from your previous point. However, a line break in a poem can emphasize the previous sentence or phrase. Consider the language, pacing, and tone of Stanley Kunitz’s 1953 poem “End of Summer:”

An agitation of the air, A perturbation of the light
Admonished me the unloved year
Would turn on its hinge that night.

I stood in the disenchanted field
Amid the stubble and the stones,
Amazed, while a small worm lisped to me
The song of my marrow-bones.

Blue poured into summer blue,
A hawk broke from his cloudless tower,
The roof of the silo blazed, and I knew
That part of my life was over.

Already the iron door of the north
Clangs open: birds, leaves, snows
Order their populations forth,
And a cruel wind blows.

Use ellipses to create anticipation

Ellipses are a powerful way to create a pause, a hesitation, or let an unfinished thought linger. This can encourage readers to complete the meaning in their minds. Legendary Harlem poet Langston Hughes wielded ellipses to great effect in his poem “Dream Variations:”

To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently,
Dark like me—
That is my dream!

To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun,
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
Till the quick day is done.
Rest at pale evening…
A tall, slim tree…
Night coming tenderly
Black like me.

Exclamations and question marks can speak directly to the reader

Just like in prose, the appearance of exclamation points and question marks can alert the reader to a direct point, and in the form of poetry, this impact can cause even more resonance.

Consider how Mary Oliver directly addresses the reader in her poem “The Swan” both through the sensory details she records in nature as well as challenging the reader how to live a life surrounded by beauty:

Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?
Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air –
An armful of white blossoms,
A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned
into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,
Biting the air with its black beak?
Did you hear it, fluting and whistling
A shrill dark music – like the rain pelting the trees – like a waterfall
Knifing down the black ledges?
And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds –
A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet
Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river?
And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?

Use parentheses to interject with an aside

Parentheses are a rare example of punctuation in poetry, but when used with an eye toward drama, it can make an impact. Experimental poet e.e. cummings not only created a personal style that is indelibly associated with his name, but also fostered an aura of eccentricity, sparseness, and precision, using key and repeating words on the page to draw attention to emotions that speak beyond language.

Consider the use of parentheses in the poem “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]” by e.e. cummings:

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling) i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

The use of enjambment

Since poetry is all about breaking rules, as a reader you will come across line breaks in the middle of sentences. This is known as enjambment. Derived from a French term, it refers to the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next, without any punctuation. Here, its absence creates a form of language that is light, airy, and deceptively simplistic in its meaning on the page—yet there is always room to insert a meaningful metaphor.

William Carlos Williams, a leading imagist poet of the 20th century, used enjambment to great beauty, especially in his most famous poem, “This Is Just To Say:”

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

Repetition as metaphor itself

In prose, repetition can make for a stirring point that remains in the reader—and the exact same happens in poetry, too. In the 1950s, Gwendolyn Brooks aimed to capture the language of a new genre of Americans, the teenager, and captured the energy of teenagers playing hooky from school at a pool hall by keeping sentences short, capturing the vernacular of grammatical inaccuracy, and creating a purposeful choppiness—all while still preserving rhyming schemes. Repetition is prevalent in “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks:

The Pool Players.
Seven at the Golden Shovel.

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon.

Some of the most famous poets incorporate punctuation within their work: Anne Sexton wrote in short, clipped, sentences ending in periods, and Emily Dickinson made the dash an art form—and after enough experience with practicing poetic forms, you might find a punctuation mark that captures how your sentences will land in impact, drama, and pacing.

Whether you choose to use punctuation sparingly or lavishly, remember that your punctuation choices should serve the soul of your poem, enhancing its beauty and resonance. Exploring the works of celebrated poets, both classic and contemporary, might help you discover a writing style and expressionism that resonates with you.