Enjambment

Enjambment is a line break that falls in the middle of a sentence or phrase, so the sense runs on into the next line without a stop.

Here is a short example.

She opened the door and found the whole street waiting.

After "found" the reader hangs for a beat, wondering what she found. The next line answers. The break is a small drum roll, and it only works because the sentence has not finished.

Enjambment and end-stopped lines

An end-stopped line finishes its thought at the line break. It feels settled and formal. An enjambed line spills over, which gives it speed and an air of speech or thought in motion.

Most poems mix the two. A run of enjambed lines followed by one end-stopped line makes the stop feel like arriving. The English Romantics and the writers of blank verse used enjambment constantly. Poets of free verse depend on it, since the line break is among the few tools they have left.

Why it matters to a writer or editor

When you edit a poem, test every break. Ask what the word at the end of the line does by sitting alone there, and what the first word of the next line does. A strong break puts weight on a word worth weighing. A weak one breaks after "the" or "of" for no gain and leaves the reader stumbling.

Pairs well with the idea of a pause inside a line, which is a caesura.

Read an example

Read an example: the opening of Milton's epic runs past each line break without a pause.

Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the World, and all our woe,

John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1667

To see how other poets let a sentence run past the line, browse the Bossfeed daily poem archive.

Frequently asked questions

What is the opposite of enjambment?

An end-stopped line, where the sentence or phrase finishes at the line break, usually with punctuation. Pope's heroic couplets are mostly end-stopped.

Why do poets use enjambment?

To speed a poem up, to create a small surprise at the break, or to give a word a double meaning because it can be read both at the end of one line and the start of the next thought.

Is enjambment the same as a run-on sentence?

No. A run-on sentence is a grammar error. Enjambment is a line break placed inside a correct sentence, for effect.