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Writing Poetry: End Stop, Enjambment, and Caesura
The line in poetry differs from the line in prose in that where the line breaks on the page is determined by the poet and not by an arbitrary margin. There are a few basic ways that a poet can determine where to break a line. The first is by mandates of a form. If a poet is using a specific form or meter, that form or meter will tell the poet where to break the line. However, if the poet is writing in free verse that determination is entirely on the poet. This choice should be deliberate and inform meaning in the poem.
In free form there are a few considerations the poet might take in to determine where and when to break his or her line. Miller Williams states in Patterns of Poetry: an Encyclopedia of Forms, “No matter how purely accentual a line may be until the end, it is the nature of the language that the last syllables in the line are going to be recognizable and the reader is going to hear them as accented or not (185).” That accent on the last few words of a line imparts import and meaning to the last words of a line. It informs the reader of the weight that word should carry.
A line that terminates with the phrase or sentence is called end-stopped. Lewis Turco calls it “cloture,” however, other references and definitions of cloture means to bring a debate to an end. End-stopped lines bring a sense of ritual to the line. It gives the reader a pause for breath before being pulled forward. Lines ending in a comma, semi-colon, dash, or ending punctuation are all considered end-stopped.
The opposite of an end-stopped line is enjambment. Enjambment is when the line terminates at a point other than at the end of a phrase. This tends to increase the feeling of informality and conversation. It “pulls” a reader further into the poem instead of letting them rest at the end of a line. It gives a sense of movement and of entangling ideas.
Finally there are caesuras which are when a syntactical unit ends in the middle of a line. It’s a break in the movement or a pause in the middle of a line. These usually accompany enjambment but can also be found with end-stopped lines.
It is also possible to use all of these in one poem. For an example of each take a look at the opening lines of Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress.”
The first, second, fourth, eighth, and tenth lines are end-stopped, the third, fifth, sixth, seventh, and ninth lines are enjambed, and there are caesuras in lines two, three, four, five, six, and nine.Had we but world enough and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love’s day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side
Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the flood,
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews.
Varying the way the lines break enforces the message for the poet and makes the poem sound more conversational. Marvell’s poem was published in 1681 and yet sounds very modern because of the way the lines break which emphasis the wry humor of the speaker.
Paying attention to where, when, and why a line breaks informs meaning and enforces the sounds of a poem. Happy writing!
Works Cited
Hirsch, Edward. Poet's Glossary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.
Turco, Lewis. The Book of Forms. 3rd ed., University Press of New England. 2000.
Willams, Miller. Patterns of Poetry: An Encyclopedia of Forms. LSU Press. 1986.
“To His Coy Mistress”. PoetryFoundation, 9 Dec 2016, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poe...s/detail/44688
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Originally Posted by Margaret Atwood
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