Ludlow by David Mason

            When a reader picks up a book, they will most likely expect the pages to be adorned with the classic structure of what is called 'prose', which is defined as "the ordinary form of spoken or written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse." Prose is not organized according to any specific verse structure, and significance lies with the sentence, not the line; hence the exclusion of line breaks in prose writing. It can be seen as a rather dull expression, as prose is what's normally expected when one picks up a book. However, the book Ludlow, by David Mason, surprises and entices the reader with its non-traditional style of writing, as Mason writes in poetry, which compliments the book better than classic prose style could. .
             The first thing that writing in poetry adds to this book is extra emotion. Poetry is usually romanticized and written in a uniquely artistic way to evoke a specific emotion from the reader. One of the simplest ways Mason achieves this is through the structure. Ludlow is written in verses, and has line breaks. Every line is extremely short and concise but comes jam-packed with emotion, and aesthetic qualities. Because every line, and verse for that matter, is particularly short it must include great imagery to still be effective. This imagery also heightens the emotional effect. Also, with short lines, Mason must choose which details he thinks are the most significant to include. For example, when describing a character, he has to decide which defining characteristics and/or quotes to put in the short line so that the reader still gets the gist of who they are, instead of a normal book which could describe a person endlessly in one paragraph, frequently including many insignificant details. Mason introduces the characters with important details thrown here and there that the reader must piece together throughout. For example, Luisa is introduced in the very beginning, "there Luisa scrubbed the pot as if she were some miner's wife and not a sapper's daughter, scrawny, barely twelve" (Mason, 1).