End-Stopped Poetry

End-stopped poetry is the opposite of enjambed poetry. In end-stopped poetry, every line of the poem contains a complete phrase or thought. Thus, with end-stopped poetry, you can expect that each line will end with some punctuation mark, typically a period, comma, semi-colon, or some other punctuation mark indicating the conclusion of a thought.

The following is an example of an entirely end-stopped poem:

The Story of My Life
If I could write the story of my life,
Produce and then direct this home-styled play,
Compose its sound track's score with lyre and fife,
And script out what each character would say,
If I controlled each cut and every scene,
How wonderfully convenient that would be;
Yet if it ever reached the silver screen,
I fear 'twould have no audience but me.
(Copyright 2009 by Douglas Twitchell)

See Also
Enjambment

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