10 Examples of Enjambment

StartLiterary resources

The enjambment is a Figure of speech which consists of not finishing a statement at the end of the verse but in the following one, that is to say, the phrases go "on horseback" between two verses. The part of the sentence that remains in the corresponding verse is the enjambing and the part that passes to the next verse is the enjambing. For example: No weapons. Neither the sweet / smiles nor the quick / flames of anger (Pedro Salinas – “Without a voice, naked”).

The enjambment is part of the group of syntactic figures. It is usual in poems of Free verse, a type of irregular versification that obeys neither the equality of the number of syllables nor the uniformity of the rhythmic groups, because the syntactic unit does not coincide with the unit metrics.

• See also: poetic resources

Types of enjambment

There are two types of enjambment:

• Sudden or abrupt overhang. It occurs when the pause occurs before the fifth syllable of the encabalgado verse.
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• smooth overhang. It occurs when the pause occurs beyond the fifth syllable of the encabalgado verse.

Examples of enjambment

1. A cold brown afternoon
   of winter. schoolboys
   they study. Monotony
   of rain on the windows.
   (Antonio Machado)

1. Oh God. If I have to die, I want to have you
   awake. And, night after night, I don't know when
   you will hear my voice Oh God. I'm talking…
   (Blas de Otero)

1. Hear how much noise; the world trembles
   like a trampled April. warns
   how man needs
   sing his death with the voice of thunder.
   I want to be the gardener crying
   of the land you occupy and manure…
   (Miguel Hernandez)

1. Oh God. If I have to die, I want to have you
   awake. And, night after night, I don't know when
   you will hear my voice Oh God. I'm talking
   only. Crawling shadows to see you.
   (Blas Otero – “Man”)

1. Good as the knobby
   holm oak, pollarded high cliff
   with mighty ax
   to be torn apart
   of iron, it becomes rich and hard..

1. Oh God. If I have to die, I want to have you
   awake. And, night after night, I don't know when
   you will hear my voice Oh God. I'm talking…
2. I'm dreaming paths
   pm. The hills
   golden, the green pines
   the dusty oaks!…

1. Good as the knobby
   holm oak, pollarded high cliff
   with mighty ax
   to be torn apart
   from iron, it becomes rich and strong...
   (Fray Luis de Leon)

1. I think my beard was
   black… I was dressed
   grey... and my beard is white
   and I'm in mourning... Is it mine
   this walk?
   (Juan Ramón Jiménez – “It is I who walk tonight”)

1. Tomorrow when the air returns
   to hover over the flowers, over the high walls
   who guard the world, (...)
   (Richard E. Molinari – "I don't know if singing dries the wind")

Follow with:

• Ellipse
• Rhetorical questions
• Synesthesia
• polysyndeton
• hyperbaton