Caesura and enjambment are two poetic devices poets use in their poems. Both these devices involve breaks in lines of poetry. They add emphasis to certain ideas and thoughts and can create rhythm and structure in poetry. However, caesura is not the same as enjambment.
What is the difference between caesura and enjambment? Caesura is a pause within a line of poetry, while enjambment is a continuation of a sentence or phrase across multiple lines without a pause.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Caesura
3. What is Enjambment
4. Similarities – Caesura and Enjambment
5. Caesura vs Enjambment in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Caesura vs Enjambment
7. FAQ – Caesura and Enjambment
What is Caesura?
A caesura is a pause that appears in a line of poetry. Punctuation marks like periods, commas, ellipses, or dashes can indicate this pause. For example, in the prologue of Romeo and Juliet, the comma after “Verona” marks a caesura: “In fair Verona, where we lay our scene.”
When analyzing poetry, scholars sometimes use a symbol called a “double pipe” (||) to mark a caesura. This symbol helps identify where the pause occurs. A caesura can occur anywhere after the first word and before the last word in the line.
A medial caesura divides a line into two equal parts. An example of medial caesura found in “To Autumn” by John Keats is “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, || Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;”
When a caesura occurs at the beginning of a line, it’s called an initial caesura. When it occurs at the end, it’s called a terminal caesura. For example, in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem Mother and Poet, we can observe both initial caesura “Dead! || One of them shot by sea in the east“) and terminal caesura (“No voice says ‘My mother’ again to me. || What?“). Moreover, a single line of poetry may contain more than one caesura.
What is Enjambment?
Enjambment is the continuation of a sentence or clause beyond the end of one line of poetry to the next line, without a pause or end punctuation at the line break. For example, in John Donne’s poem The Good-Morrow, he uses enjambment in the opening line:
“I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I / Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?”
Here, the thought continues smoothly from the first line into the second without a period or other punctuation. This creates a sense of flow and connection between the lines.
Enjambment also encourages readers to move quickly from one line to the next, as the idea or sentence often isn’t complete until the following line. This can create ambiguity, urgency, or tension.
The opposite of enjambment is an end-stopped line. Here, a line ends with a clear punctuation mark, such as a period or comma, and marks the end of the thought.
Similarities Between Caesura and Enjambment
- Both involve breaks in a line of poetry—whether through a pause or continued thought.
- They create rhythm and structure in poetry.
- They add emphasis to certain ideas and thoughts.
Difference Between Caesura and Enjambment
Definition
- Caesura is a pause within a line of poetry, usually marked by punctuation.
- Enjambment is a continuation of a sentence or phrase across multiple lines without a pause.
Placement
- Caesura can occur anywhere in the line (after the first word, before the last word).
- Enjambment occurs when a thought flows over from one line to the next without a pause.
Function
- Caesura creates a pause, helping to emphasize or separate ideas.
- Enjambment keeps the flow going and makes the reader move smoothly to the next line.
Punctuation
- Caesura is often marked by punctuation, like a period or comma.
- Enjambment doesn’t usually have punctuation at the end of the line.
The following table summarizes the difference between caesura and enjambment.
Summary – Caesura vs Enjambment
Caesura and enjambment are two poetic devices commonly found in poems. Caesura is a pause within a line of poetry, while enjambment is a continuation of a sentence or phrase across multiple lines without a pause. Caesura is often marked by punctuation, like a period or comma, while enjambment doesn’t usually have punctuation at the end of the line. This is the summary of the difference between caesura and enjambment.
FAQ: Caesura and Enjambment
1. What is an example of a caesura?
- An example of a caesura is found in the line:
“To be, || or not to be — || that is the question.”
The double pipe symbols || indicate the pause within the line, creating a deliberate break in the flow of the sentence.
2. What is an example of enjambment?
Here’s an example of enjambment in a poem. The exact points where enjambment occurs are underlined.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
That alters when it alteration finds
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! It is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
3. What is the opposite of enjambment?
- The opposite of enjambment is an end-stopped line. In an end-stopped line, a line ends with a clear punctuation mark like a period or comma, signaling the end of a complete thought.
4. Why is enjambment used in poetry?
- Enjambment is used in poetry to create a smooth flow between lines and maintain rhythm. It can also add tension, surprise, or emotional impact to a poem.
Leave a Reply