Formatting Text to Convey Emotion in Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard

In literature, the flow of a work and a reader’s understanding of it is formed by an author’s use of punctuation, formatting, and style. Within the lines of Natasha Trethewey’s poetry in her book Native Guard, she makes many abnormal formatting decisions, breaking conventional formatting and style rules of poetry and specific types of poems. Overall, many different components contribute towards the emotion conveyed by a piece of poetry, with some aspects being guided by the author and others by the reader. Some aspects of Trethewey’s poetry are carefully chosen and crafted by her to emphasize a specific understanding and/or style of reading the book, but other aspects are dependent upon the reader, leading to variations across individuals’ interpretations of the poetry.

Throughout Native Guard, Trethewey writes her poetry in a specific manner, carefully choosing each word and placing specific meaning within and between every line. Most people can probably agree with Lawrence University student Madhuri Hernandez, when she states that “authors need to choose very wisely what to include in a short poem” (Hernandez). The small, seemingly meaningless choices made by the author can have large impacts on the work as a whole and/or a reader’s understanding of it. Little aspects such as punctuation or connotative differences between words drastically change the way certain ideas come across, meaning the author is required to be conscious and intentional about each thing they write. The difference in how a poem reveals itself and its meaning to readers through these aspects is ultimately dictated largely by the author’s creative choice. Trethewey, for example, often makes the choice to begin a line with a word or phrase that would logically have succeeded the previous line’s message. As was looked at in the first class meeting of the term, the poems read very differently when read sentence by sentence rather than line by line due to these unnatural breaks included by Trethewey (classroom discussion). An example of this can be found in the first stanza of “Myth.” The second line reads, “It’s as if you slipped through some rift, a hollow” (Trethewey 14). Even though that could logically be the end of a thought, the next line goes on to say, “I make between my slumber and my waking” (Trethewey 14). Those two lines read differently when combined compared to when read as two separate thoughts, meaning a reader might have a different view of the poem entirely depending on how they read it. However, because of the way Trethewey formatted it with the punctuation, readers are almost forced to awkwardly pause near the end of the first line before continuing and “rushing” or falling headfirst into the next line as a continuation of that phrase. Her choice to unnaturally break up her ideas causes peculiar phrasing, causing the reader to stumble over and put more emphasis on certain ideas and aspects from Trethewey’s work. This can place greater emphasis on certain connotations, therefore stressing emotions and ideas of Trethewey’s choosing along with making the reader feel off kilter as they read the poem. In this way, Trethewey’s decisions guide readers’ interpretations of her writing, reinforcing certain meaning through specific decisions she makes.

Similarly, in Plato’s Republic, Socrates’ method of writing dialogue centering around asking questions can serve to reinforce certain moods and reactions over others in his readers. Although the book is ancient and the topics discussed can potentially be more difficult for a person to think through, Plato’s writing remains both impactful and relevant because of his ability to connect with the reader through his stylistic choices revolving around punctuation and sentence structure, similarly to Trethewey. By asking questions and posing answers in the book’s dialogue rather than just presenting the reader with a specific take on an idea, Plato is able to guide a reader to think more closely and deeply about the topics he desires them to along with pushing them to be in support of his (Socrates’) takes on the ideas and proposed solutions (Plato). As shown in both examples—Trethewey and Plato—the way in which an author structures their ideas and physical sentences can drastically change the message or impact of the statement. In poetry such as Trethewey’s this effect can be caused by splitting up sentences in different ways and/or using different types of punctuation. In books such as Plato’s, this effect is achieved by reformatting sentences and presenting their ideas in alternative ways (such as in question and answer form rather than declarative form).

Moments of specifically chosen punctuation that force certain phrasing upon the reader are not the only method in which a certain emotion or understanding may be pressed to the forefront. A poem’s flow and interpretation is not only determined by its phrasing and literal writing, but also by the tone in which it is read and thought to have. However, that tone could vary from the author to the reader or even reader to reader. One of Trethewey’s poems, “Graveyard Blues,” is structured like an old blues lyric, and the topic of the poem connects with the somber style of the blues (Trethewey 8). In a recording, the way that Trethewey reads the poem is slightly monotone and leaves emotion to be desired, whereas if one reads the poem to themselves, it might be easier to feel the sorrow pouring out of her words (Sandvik). That could be attributed towards her personal experience with the poem and its events, or even the difference between reading silently and reading aloud, but it proves how context dependent tone can be. If several people were to read the same poem aloud, each person might emphasize different words, and input a different tone into the lines. Structuring the poem to a blues feel aids in reinforcing one interpretation over another, but it is not foolproof and remains highly dependent upon a reader’s research and following of the formatting. Flows and pauses are likely to remain similar from person to person, reinforcing the importance of punctuation, but the tone determined from a reader’s experience and the connotation used still plays a key role.

Spacing is another crucial tool in allowing readers to soak up the true meaning behind a poem. In an interview with PBS, Trethewey states that poetry does, in fact, ask us to slow down (Trethewey 2018). Spacing and formatting attribute greatly to this aspect of the genre. A poet is able to convey emotion not only through carefully chosen words, or specific use of punctuation, but also through carefully chosen formatting and the visual presentation of their writing. The length of a poem can be crucial to portraying emotion, along with the inclusion of visual gaps between words. Sometimes, one’s sentiments are best summed up in a concise way, so there are no misconstrued emotions and the author’s feelings are clear (Hernandez). An example of this are Trethewey’s sentiments on her mother’s death in the poem “What Is Evidence” (Trethewey 11). The emotion that Trethewey seems to desire to convey may have become unclear if the poem was several more stanzas long. The shorter length aids in conveying the matter of fact yet heartbreaking nature of the abuse endured by Trethewey’s mother that is described within the lines of the poem. If there was more fluff and filler text, the full impact of the meaning might have been lost. In other poems, such as “Providence,” the abnormal spacing between words such as “tying us” and “to the land” forces the reader to step back and read between the lines to decipher the reason for Trethewey to make those formatting decisions (Trethewey 43). By including these visual gaps, Trethewey further shapes the emotion and connotation a person reads and interprets from her words compared to if she had provided a solid block of text (Reemtsma).

Within Trethewey’s poems, and all writing or artistry in general, every aspect of the writing should be examined closely, as the author has made specific choices to pass their message along. Careful consideration is placed into even the smallest details if the author feels that it is important in the conveyance of their intended understanding or meaning. It is only right that readers slow down and recognize the flows and pauses so that they may find meaning in the spacing.

Works Cited

Hernandez, Madhuri. Personal Interview. September 17, 2022.

Plato. Republic. Translated by G.M.A. Grube. Revised by C.D.C. Reeve. Hackett Publishing Company, 1992

Reemtsma, Shaggy. Personal Interview. October 26, 2023.

Sandvik, Alexandra. “Graveyard Blues--Natasha Trethewey.” YouTube Video, 1:01. January 20, 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ue5EaQGsJ0&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel =SigurR%C3%B3s

Trethewey, Natasha. The Interview Show. By Mark Bazer. PBS, March 23, 2018.

Trethewey, Natasha. Native Guard. New York City: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2006.