Enjambed

Enjambed is an adjective describing a line of poetry whose sense or syntactic unit runs on beyond the end of the line into the next line, without a stop or terminal punctuation. The noun form is enjambment (also enjambement). The term derives from the French enjamber, meaning to step over or across.

Enjambment contrasts with end-stopped lines, where a line ends with a complete phrase, clause, or sentence, usually marked by punctuation. Enjambment creates momentum by carrying the reader forward, can heighten suspense, and may shift emphasis to the following line or phrase. It can also tie together images or ideas across multiple lines.

Poets employ enjambment in various ways, including internal enjambment within a single line, or across line breaks that form an apparent pause only at the level of sense. It is common in many traditions, and is a frequent feature in English Romantic and modernist poetry, where it can disrupt regular meter or pacing. End-stopped lines and caesuras may be used in combination with enjambment for contrast.

Historical usage and reception: Since ancient Greek and Latin poetry, enjambment has been used to varying degrees. In English, it became especially prominent with Romantic poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge, and later in modernist poets like T. S. Eliot and W. H. Auden, among others. The technique remains a basic tool for shaping tempo, narrative flow, and emphasis in verse.

See also: End-stopped, Caesura, Run-on line.