Enjambment and End-stop
Lines of poetry can end in one of two ways --- with enjambment or with
end-stop.
Enjambment occurs when a line of poetry runs over to the next line without
a grammatical break or pause. There are differing opinions about how to
read such a line ending, but generally there is either no pause, or only the
slightest indication of a pause. Enjambed lines generally give the feeling of
fluidity or a sense of incompleteness.
Example:
-- from Seamus Heaney's "Mid-Term Break"
The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram
When I came in, and I was embarrassed
By old men standing up to shake my hand
And tell me they were "sorry for my trouble..."
End-stop occurs when a line of poetry ends with a natural pause (as at the
end of a phrase, clause, or sentence). The end-stopped line gives the feeling
of a whole syntactical unit, a feeling of completion, weight, and authority.
Example:
-- also from Seamus Heaney's "Mid-Term Break"
Paler now,
Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,
He lay in the four foot box as in his cot.
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.
A four foot box, a foot for every year.