enjambement
/ɪnˈdʒam(b)m(ə)nt
/ /ɛnˈdʒam(b)m(ə)nt/ /ɒ̃ˈʒɒ̃bmɒ̃ /(also enjambment)
noun [mass noun]
(In verse) the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza: he uses enjambment less than many poets [count noun]: flat language and clumsy enjambments...
- The enjambment of lines 12 to 13, successful in its matching the sense, introduces a further rhythmic variation due to the unusual length of the vowel in ‘over-poise’.
- We focussed on the form, on how closely they'd followed the rules of syllable and rhyme, enjambment and stress, and only secondarily on how it worked as a poem.
- Get up, it's night, says this fragment, which then goes on by enjambment to its iambic continuation, ‘There'll be time enough to sleep.’
Origin
Mid 19th century: French, from enjamber 'stride over, go beyond', from en- 'in' + jambe 'leg'.