Enjambment .... it's a French word, right? Lots of poets have never heard of it. But we've all seen it. We just don't know the correct word to describe it. You know... that weird thing where a new sentence starts in the middle of a line... maybe even the last line of a stanza... and then carries on as if nothing has happened into the next stanza.
Enjambment comes from the French verb enjamber which means to stride across, or to encroach upon. And that's exactly what happens. The half finished sentence rides across to be completed somewhere in the following line, couplet or stanza.
Enjambment presents readers with an unresolved, and hopefully intriguing sense. They feel compelled to read on to find out what happens next. Whilst a rhyme provides closure, enjambment delays it. We are continually seeking for resolution, meaning, closure; enjambment creates a tension that provokes us to read on.
Enjambment can create a free-flowing poem that places emphasis on unexpected tempo or change of pace. It works with punctuation too. In It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free, William Wordsworth places a semicolon in the middle of a line instead of at the end:
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquility;
It makes all the difference! Here, enjambment has been used to maintain the rhythm and flow of the poem, and also to preserve the integrity of the end rhyme scheme; Nun, sun.
Enjambment can also be used to build momentum in a poem, to provide some contrast or complexity, and playfully, to add some fun elements to the syntax of the lines.
In the poem Endymion by John Keats enjambment is mixed with rhyme to create an illusion that there is closure after each couplet. But the thoughts keep coming, driving the reader on...
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
I hope you can get to grips with this poetic device. It is remarkably adaptable and can take your writing to the next level.
Steve Wheeler
Previous posts in this series
Image by Banalaties used with a Creative Commons Licence
This stop and start delivery is all about that semicolon isn’t it? It’s like a bridge over the rest of a sentence into another sentence… almost like a subject acting with a half predicate… or a kind of mushing of ideas into one big bread ball ready to be baked! Love this device Steve and am going to write with it today. Thanks for the lesson!
ReplyDeleteI used enjambment as a device fitting the theme of this poem: "Ordinary corners", inspired by a photo that my father took of me and my wife after returning from honeymoon, on seeing the photo some years later:
ReplyDeleteOrdinary Corners
Seeing that photo in my office of
us just back from honeymoon, standing in
front of our house that hot summer’s day, me
all smart and slim, Christine pretty in her
blue and pink flowered dress, I notice the
corner of his car, parked in the drive and
realize I’m looking through his eyes, so
proud and hopeful for the future, of which
only a few years remain for him. Just
a pang, the sort that periodically
returns with trivia, like that chair it’s
now my duty to sit in, or the card
with love from Mother; watching the rugby
internationals he enjoyed so much, the
unfamiliar, space-filled, silent house. Death
only troubled him the once, but strange how
the dead still repossess us with their non-
presence, appearing round such ordinary
corners.
Iain Strachan 1-viii-1996
Tripped
ReplyDeleteThe ball drops each time
dribbled
unto pavement's heat, splattered
melts to bounce deplete
Air hissing
life's buoyancy dismissing
deflated bubble
of promise incomplete
A star is born to Summer's Eve
shooting
eluding given pathways
Streaks, trajectory disrupted
burning bridges
aflame
changing, volatile strays
Days are never an ease
struggle
the game this one plays
prone to fail
once again
Caught up in deception's
betrayal
drawn into spin of a tale
destination
ended before it began
Falling, failing to
rise above the fray
Determined projection set
never give in to disdain
Imelda Zapata Garcia
This is awesome, I have always seen enjambment but never know what it is or how it's works.
ReplyDelete