Today

Enjambment is when the poet breaks a line of thought to continue on the next line without any pause or punctuation. While Collins is known for his clear, accessible language, the way he plays with line breaks and other mechanical aspects of his work creates more complexity than might be apparent on first reading. The enjambment breaks up “Today” in a way that creates distinct moments of irony for the reader. For example, in Lines 7-9, the reader is soothed by the pleasant vision of the peony blossoms and the sensation of cool bricks. The lengths and imagery of these lines gives us just enough time to settle back into the peaceful ambiance of springtime after the door is ripped “from its jamb” (Line 6) that we are again taken completely by surprise by the appearance of the hammer. It’s possible that Line 6 actually ending with the word “jamb” is a little nod to the enjambment trick he uses here, especially since Collins is known to play with the conventions and processes of the writing of poetry itself in his poems. After this little meta-poetic wink, the reader’s peaceful drifting with the poem is broken with the appearance of the brutish hammer. The hammer is startling, and its smashing of the paperweight is a shock after the bucolic scene, but the effect is even stronger with the enjambment of Line 10 and Line 11. Not only is the thought “that you felt like taking” (Line 10) stopped in the middle, but the reader has even further to fall into “a hammer to the glass paperweight” (Line 11) as the thought teeters on the end of a stanza break as well.