Enjambment

Also called Run-on line, End-stopped line, Caesura

A sentence running over the end of a line of poetry without a pause.

What it is

Enjambment is when a line of poetry ends without punctuation and the sense carries on into the next line. Its opposite is an end-stopped line, which finishes on a full stop or other stopping punctuation.

A caesura is a pause INSIDE a line, usually a piece of punctuation partway through.

Where it applies

Any poetry question, including unseen poetry.

How it works

The eye moves on but the line break still makes a tiny hesitation, so enjambment creates momentum and a slight instability at once — the poem pulling forward faster than its own shape.

End-stopping does the reverse: control, finality, sometimes a plodding inevitability. A caesura interrupts, and in a poem about violence or grief an abrupt mid-line stop can be the most expressive thing on the page.

How to use it in your work

Only comment on it where it does something. Enjambment is everywhere; the marks are for noticing where it matters — where the run-on lands a word at the start of a line that would be ordinary in the middle.

Quote the line break itself with a slash and say what falls where: "'and I could not / hold him' places 'hold' at the line's opening, so the failure is the first thing we read."

Where to get help

Your teacher, and the unseen poetry song for how to approach a poem cold.