What an end-stopped line is

A term you'll meet in poetic form.

An end-stopped line is a line of verse that ends with a natural pause — usually marked by punctuation (a comma, semicolon, dash, or full stop) — where both the grammar and the sense reach a resting point. The line and the unit of meaning end together.

What it feels like

Because an end-stopped line closes cleanly, it gives verse a measured, balanced, self-contained quality. Each line stands as a complete thought, and the reader pauses at the line break. A poem built mostly from end-stopped lines feels orderly, deliberate, sometimes formal or stately.

End-stopped vs. enjambment

The opposite technique is enjambment, where a line runs over its end without pause, the sense spilling into the next line. End-stopping creates closure and control; enjambment creates momentum, surprise, and flow. Most poems mix the two, and the contrast between them is where much of the rhythmic interest lies.

Why poets choose it

End-stopping lets a poet land emphasis on the final word of a line and give each idea room to settle. Pope's heroic couplets are famously end-stopped, each line a polished, complete statement. When a heavily enjambed poem suddenly end-stops a line, that closure can hit like a verdict.

How to read it

Track where lines stop and where they run on. A shift from flowing enjambment to firm end-stopping (or the reverse) almost always matches a shift in the poem's feeling — from turbulence to resolution, or calm to rupture. The punctuation at the line's edge is part of the poem's argument.

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