This post was suggested by Susan Aizenberg. If you have a suggestion for an essay, please let me know in the comments.
It is often the choice of verbs that makes flat lines more energetic. Grammarians have special terms for kinds of verbs: auxiliary, deponent, desiderative, frequentative, and so on, but most verbs bring activity to the subjects in poems.
There are also intransitive verbs which don’t take direct objects, and what Mary Kinzie calls “non-verbs.” These deliberately flatten the line even when they become transitive and take on direct objects (such as grow or stand).
Kinzie’s list of weak or non-verbs:
But let’s look at active, dynamic verbs in a handful of poems.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Sharpener to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.