Home › Glossary › Letter S

Shifting break

Structure
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

A variable or irregular line break that changes position for expressive effect

Detailed Definition
Shifting break is a variable or unpredictable line or stanza break that changes position for expressive effect—moving from end-of-clause to mid-word across stanzas—to create tension, surprise, or mimic thought processes; common in William Carlos Williams and contemporary free verse, it challenges syntactic expectation and emphasizes fragmentation or fluidity.
Example
Example in poetry:
A line ending mid-phrase like "I never thought—" followed by a stanza break before "—it would end like this"; In William Carlos Williams’ "The Red Wheelbarrow," breaks after "so much depends / upon" shift emphasis unexpectedly; A poem where the break moves from end-of-clause to mid-word across stanzas; A verse that breaks after "She said" in one stanza and after "She" in the next for rhythmic variation; A poem using enjambment inconsistently: sometimes breaking after verbs, sometimes after prepositions, to create tension
Additional Notes
Shifting break varies line or stanza breaks unpredictably to create tension, surprise, or mimic thought; seen in Williams’ enjambment or contemporary free verse; students should track how breaks affect pacing and emphasis—e.g., mid-word cuts signal rupture; linked to "visual break" and "asymmetrical verse."
Also Known As
variable caesura mobile pause dynamic line division Caesura movement shifting pause wandering caesura
Skip to main content