"The meaning 'runs over' or 'steps over' from one poetic line to the next, without punctuation."
The continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
Definition of Enjambment: Enjambment refers to the continuous flow of a sentence or phrase across two or more lines of a poem.
Types of Enjambment: There are two types of enjambment: Soft and hard. Soft enjambment occurs when the sentence or phrase flows naturally into the next line, and hard enjambment happens when the sentence or phrase is abruptly cut off at the end of the line.
Effect of Enjambment: Enjambment can create different effects in poetry, such as adding emphasis to certain words or phrases, creating suspense, or allowing the poet to include more information in a limited number of lines.
Examples of Enjambment in Literature: Analyzing examples of enjambment in famous poems and literature can help readers better understand the technique and its impact on the reader.
Comparison to other Poetic Techniques: Comparing enjambment to other poetic devices such as caesura, end-stopped lines, and rhyme can help readers distinguish the different effects each technique has on a poem.
Close Reading and Analysis of Poetry: Practicing close reading and analysis of poetry can help readers identify and understand enjambment's purpose and effect in a poem.
Use of Enjambment in Modern Poetry: Analyzing the use of enjambment in contemporary poetry can show how poets use the technique to create new and innovative effects.
Enjambment in Different Languages: Understanding how enjambment works in different languages and cultures can broaden the reader's understanding of the technique and its possibilities.
Run-on enjambment: In this type of enjambment, a line of poetry continues into the following line without any punctuation or grammatical pause. It creates the effect of a continuous flow of thought or feeling.
End-stopped enjambment: This type of enjambment occurs when a line of poetry ends in punctuation, creating a pause or full stop before the following line.
Weak enjambment: This type of enjambment creates a minor caesura or pause in the middle of a line, often by breaking a phrase or clause between two lines.
Strong enjambment: This type of enjambment creates a major caesura or pause in the middle of a line, often by breaking a sentence or idea between two lines.
Hanging enjambment: This type of enjambment occurs when a sentence or phrase continues beyond the end of a line, creating an unresolved tension or suspense until the next line or stanza.
Interrupted enjambment: This type of enjambment breaks the flow of a sentence or phrase in the middle of a line, often by inserting a new phrase or thought that shifts the meaning or tone.
Reverse enjambment: This type of enjambment occurs when the syntactic unit of a poem is reversed, so that the first part of a sentence comes at the end of a line, and the second part comes at the beginning of the following line.
Staggered enjambment: This type of enjambment creates a rhythmically irregular pattern by varying the lengths of enjambed and end-stopped lines, often to mimic the pace or tone of a natural speech or thought.
"The origin of the word is credited to the French word enjamber, which means 'to straddle or encroach'."
"The delay of meaning creates a tension that is released when the word or phrase that completes the syntax is encountered (called the rejet)."
"The tension arises from the 'mixed message' produced both by the pause of the line-end, and the suggestion to continue provided by the incomplete meaning."
"Even in couplets, the closed or heroic couplet was a late development; older is the open couplet, where rhyme and enjambed lines co-exist."
"Homer used the technique, and it is the norm for alliterative verse where rhyme is unknown."
"It was used extensively in England by Elizabethan poets for dramatic and narrative verses, before giving way to closed couplets."
"The example of John Milton in Paradise Lost laid the foundation for its subsequent use by the English Romantic poets."
"In its preface, he identified it as one of the chief features of his verse: 'sense variously drawn out from one verse into another'."
"The word or phrase that completes the syntax encountered after the delay of meaning."
"Straddle or encroach."
"Lines without enjambment are end-stopped."
"The closed or heroic couplet was a late development."
"The apparent contradiction between rhyme, which heightens closure, and enjambment, which delays it, shows that the technique is compatible with rhymed verse."
"It is the norm for alliterative verse where rhyme is unknown."
"In the 32nd Psalm of the Hebrew Bible, enjambment is unusually conspicuous."
"Elizabethan poets used it extensively for dramatic and narrative verses."
"The tension arises from the 'mixed message' produced both by the pause of the line-end and the suggestion to continue provided by the incomplete meaning."
"One of the chief features of his verse was 'sense variously drawn out from one verse into another'."
"To straddle or encroach."