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Glite Dictionary
end-stopped

end-stopped

8.2
A line in a poem that ends with a pause and often has a punctuation mark
  • adjective
  • /ˈɛndˌstɑpt/
  • Literature
translation icon : con pausa al final
  • The end-stopped lines in this sonnet emphasize the poet's carefully constructed arguments.
  • end-stopped line

Examples

  • The "beat inevitable"—heavily stressed, usually end-stopped lines with exact rhymes—gives a sense of barreling forward toward the genre's impending tragedy.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Lines are not all end-stopped, as we can see above, especially in the center of the libretto.

    Academic text (2000)

  • But this is not really typical of Spenser, and while some of his stanzas are climactic, their lines generally remain serenely end-stopped, only a small proportion ever being enjambed.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Parataxis, conventional end-stopped lines and enjambment, narrative description, metaphor and metonymies are all part of a process towards confronting hierarchies and imposed structures.

    Academic text (2009)

  • Many poems feature end-stopped lines, where each line concludes with a punctuation mark.

  • In her latest poem, the author skillfully uses end-stopped lines to create a sense of finality in each thought.

Antonyms

run-on
  • Literature
3 7.3

Continuing the sentence past a line break without a pause

How Paused

end-stopped
  • Literature
8.2
run-on
  • Literature
3 7.3
to enjamb
  • Literature
9.9

Surface Forms

end-stopped positive

Morphology

end-stopped = end-stop (transparent) = end + stop + ed

The adjective means 'having an end-stop', so its meaning is directly recoverable from the compound base.

Etymology

End-stopped comes from the common words end and stopped, so it literally means 'stops at the end'. In poetry, an end-stopped line has a clear pause or punctuation at its end, so the idea usually finishes with the line.