Poetical Structural Devices

Question 1

What is Enjambment?

Answer 1

Enjambment is when you have no punctuation at the end of a line so the line carries onto the next one.

Example:
“April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.”

Question 2

What is Caesura?

Answer 2

Caesura is when you have punctuation throughout the line but not at the end of the line.

Example:
“To be, or not to be, that is the question”

“It is for you we speak, not for ourselves”

Question 3

What is Volta?

Answer 3

Volta is the turning point in a poem. It can be a shift in anything.

Example:
A character goes from feeling powerful to weak.

A scenery shift.