Analyzing and Interpreting Literature / Unit 6 AIL 0543 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The End-Stopped Line
Captions available
The idea
An end-stopped line closes with a grammatical pause, usually a mark of punctuation. A poem of end-stopped lines moves in discrete units; a poem of enjambed lines flows across them. Browning's Duke speaks in heavily enjambed verse, which is part of why his monologue sounds like talk.
In practice
The line closes with its sense.
Where people slip
Enjambment made the Duke sound spoken.
Your place on the trail
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