Enjambment is a poetic device where a sentence or phrase runs over from one line to the next without a terminal punctuation mark. This technique encourages the reader to move forward in the poem without pausing, creating a sense of continuity and fluidity.
Poetic devices are literary tools that poets employ to enrich the depth, sound, and emotional impact of their poetry. Among these tools is the technique of enjambment. Derived from the Middle French ...
Enjambment The running-over of a sentence or phrase from one poetic line to the next, without terminal punctuation; the opposite of end-stopped. William Carlos Williams’s “Between Walls” is one sentence broken into 10 enjambed lines: the back wings of the hospital where nothing will grow lie cinders in which shine the broken pieces of a ...
What is enjambment? Enjambment is a poetic technique that involves continuing one line from a poem onto the next line or stanza without punctuation. The word “enjambment” comes from the French word enjambement, meaning “to step over,” which explains why one line continues to the next.
Enjambment, pronounced “en-JAMB-ment”, occurs when a phrase, clause, or sentence in a poem doesn’t finish at the end of a line. Instead, it runs over, or “bleeds”, into the next line.
Enjambment has the effect of encouraging the reader to continue reading from one line to the next, since most of the time a line of poetry that's enjambed won't make complete sense until the reader finishes the clause or sentence on the following line or lines.
Closely related to enjambment is the technique of "broken rhyme" or "split rhyme" which involves the splitting of an individual word, typically to allow a rhyme with one or more syllables of the split word.