Final answer:
Enjambment in poetry extends thoughts beyond the ends of lines, creating suspense, emphasizing certain images or ideas, and changing the prosody of the work. This device can deeply affect the reading experience and the emphasis on specific parts of the poem.
Step-by-step explanation:
The effect of enjambment in poetry is to extend a thought beyond the end of a line, influencing the poem's reading experience. Enjambment can control the music, or prosody, of the poem, create suspense or drama, and emphasize certain images or ideas. For example, having a line end with a verb, as in 'I think,' places emphasis on the thinking action and delays the reader's understanding of what is being thought, which generates interest and suspense.
James Wright's use of enjambment can change the emphasis from the separation of places to the unification of the community through a collective action, as seen in the inclusion of the line 'dreaming of heroes' at the end of a series of locations.
In 'A Blessing,' Wright surprises the reader with an unexpected image due to enjambment between the penultimate and final lines, which also illustrates the power of the poet's decisions on where to place words for maximized effect.