What is the poet's purpose when he or she writes a poem with little punctuation?

Question

In a poem named "Daybreak in Alabama" by Langston Hughes, Hughes uses only three periods in the 20+ line poem with no commas when needed. What is Hughes trying to say when having no punctuation?

Answer 1

Many of the poets who use this device do so to emphasize the emotion expressed by the poem, instead of the "superfluous" punctuation. See ee cummings.

Answer 2

I am an ee cummings fan, and I always thought the lack of punctuation (or its creative use) was the poets way of bending language to suit the way a poem should sound or be read.

Punctuation is a clue to take a breath or pause when reading, either silently or aloud. If you are hurried, anxious, struggling, then a mood is set. Also, when something is missing your brain thinks should be there, it notices. You pause, or maybe give it some extra thought because it stands out more than if it was grammatically correct.

Answer 3

This answer is to poems in general. But, sometimes poets put very little punctuation because they are trying to achieve a certain rhythm. Having a lot of punctuation changes the meaning of a poem.

Answer 4

Without having read it I couldn't say though it may be something to do with the scansion and metre it's written in to give it a natural rhythm that doesn't require punctuation.