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Reflexive enjambment

Device
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Enjambment that draws attention to its own line break, often to comment on poetic form, disrupt expectation, or heighten tension.

Detailed Definition
Reflexive enjambment occurs when a line break not only carries syntax over to the next line (standard enjambment) but also thematically or grammatically reflects back on itself, creating a moment of self-awareness or meta-commentary within the poem’s flow; for instance, breaking after “I write to forget” so the next line begins “forgetting I write” uses enjambment to enact the very cognitive slippage it describes, turning the line break into a site of poetic self-interrogation that blurs the boundary between form and content through syntactic mirroring.
Example
Example in poetry:
Reflexive enjambment: "This line breaks\nbecause it knows you’re reading it"; "The poem pauses\nto watch you turn the page"; "Words spill over\naware of their own overflow"; "I stop here\nonly to make you wonder why"
Additional Notes
Reflexive enjambment draws attention to its own line break, commenting on poetic construction; meta-poetic technique—use to highlight artifice or invite reader collaboration.
Also Known As
Self-referential enjambment Reflexive run-on Self-aware carryover Meta-poetic line-break
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