End-Stopped Line - Definition and Examples

Definition of End-Stopped Line
An give up-stopped line is a poetic device wherein a pause comes on the end of a syntactic unit (sentence, clause, or phrase). This pause can be expressed in writing as a punctuation mark, together with a colon, semi-colon, period, or complete stop.

According to A. C. Bradley, a line might be an cease-stopped line, when the meter and feel both make a natural pause at its quit which include on this line:

“Yet to be recognised shortens my made intent …”

(King Lear, with the aid of William Shakespeare)

Opposite of Enjambment
Enjambment is the opposite of stop-stopped line. Thus, examples of stop-stopped line should by no means be careworn with enjambment examples. When a smash or pause comes on the quit of a line or sentence, it is referred to as an give up-stopped line. However, whilst a spoil comes in the center of a phrase or line and the idea actions on to the subsequent line, it is called “enjambment.” Like in these traces:

“… I am now not at risk of weeping, as our sex
Commonly are, the want of which useless dew…”

(A Winter’s Tale through William Shakespeare)

Examples of End-Stopped Line in Literature
Example #1: Bright Star (By John Keats)
“Bright Star, might I were as stedfast as thou art —
Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night time,
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite …”

These strains are excellent instance of give up-stopped line. Each line ends with a punctuation mark, observed with the aid of a pause, which offers a experience of a separate unit. These pauses provide rhythm and pace to the poem.

Example #2: An Essay on Criticism (By Alexander Pope)
“A little studying is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste now not the Pierian spring.
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.”

These lines all end with grammatical breaks. Also, these give up-stopped lines contain whole phrases and make feel. Here, each sentence corresponds to the length of a line, and that pause slows down the tempo of poem.

Example #3: Sonnet 18 (By William Shakespeare)
“Shall I evaluate thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art extra cute and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s hire hath all too quick a date …”

This excerpt is an excellent example of quit-stopped line. All of these lines bring a pause at the give up. There is a pause in each meter and sense; therefore, this tool gives a complete poetic effect.

Example #4: Alley Cat Love Song (By Dana Gioia)
“Come into the garden, Fred,
For the neighborhood tabby is long gone.
Come into the garden, Fred.
I have nothing through my flea collar on,
And the heady scent of catnip has long gone to my head.
I’ll wait with the aid of the display screen door till dawn.
The fireflies court inside the sweetgum tree.
The nightjar calls from the pine,
And she seems to say in her rhapsody,
“Oh, mustard-bown Fred, be mine!”
The complete moon lighting my whiskers afire,
And the fur goes erect on my spine …”

End-stopped line is used in this entire poem where each line ends with a pause marked by way of a punctuation sign. This gives rhythmic and poetic effect. Apart from that, it provides extra flexibility to the poet.

Example #5: The Burning Babe (By Robert Southwell)
“As I in hoary winter’s night time stood shivering in the snow,
Surprised I changed into with surprising heat, which made my heart to glow;
And lifting up a nervous eye to view what fire was near,
A quite babe all burning brilliant did in the air appear …”

In the above lines, the ends of the strains correspond to the ending of the clause. Also, there are robust breaks at the closing of every line, which helps making the which means explicit.

Function of End-Stopped Line
The motive of using quit-stopped traces is to present poetic and rhythmic effect to the literary text. They have a tendency to slow down the speed and supply a clear idea of each line through creating a damage at the cease. Besides, it affords regularity to the meter of a poetic text. End-stopped lines make poetry extra coherent and accessible, and allows the readers contemplate on the sentences. Hence, the reader is capable of discover deeper meanings and experience in lines where stop-prevent is given.