Enjambment is a stylistic device in Latin poetry where the poet delays the final word of a phrase, clause, or sentence to the beginning of the following line, creating suspense or emphasis. Vergil uses it constantly in the Aeneid, and you analyze its effect on the AP Latin exam.
Enjambment happens when a sentence or phrase refuses to end where the poetic line ends. Instead, the last word spills over to the start of the next line. The CED defines it precisely as the delay of the final word of a phrase, clause, or sentence to the beginning of the following poetic line, done to create suspense or emphasis.
Think of the line break as a tiny cliffhanger. Your ear expects the thought to finish at the end of the hexameter line. When it doesn't, you're left hanging for a beat, and then the delayed word lands hard in the emphatic first position of the next line. Vergil loves this move. In the Laocoon scene of Book 2 (lines 201-249), the twin serpents glide immensis orbibus angues at line's end, and only with incumbunt pelago at the start of the next line do they actually press down on the sea. The delay makes you feel the dread before the action arrives.
Enjambment is named explicitly in the essential knowledge for learning objective AP Latin 4.3.G, which asks you to describe word order as a stylistic device. It shows up alongside synchysis as one of the two word-order moves the CED calls out by name, so it's fair game anywhere you read Vergil, especially Topic 4.3 (Aeneid Book 2, lines 40-56 and 201-249) and the epic elements work in Topic 1.22. It also feeds directly into the interpretation objectives. AP Latin 4.3.Q asks you to explain how stylistic information supports an interpretation, and AP Latin 4.3.N and 4.3.O require you to cite specific Latin and explain how it supports your reading. Spotting enjambment is step one. Explaining what the delayed word does to the meaning is what actually earns points.
Keep studying AP Latin Unit 1
Synchysis (Unit 4)
The CED pairs these two devices in the same essential knowledge under AP Latin 4.3.G. Both are deliberate disruptions of natural word order, but synchysis interlocks words in an a-b-a-b pattern within lines, while enjambment plays with the line break itself. If you can talk about one, examiners expect you can talk about the other.
Vergilian form and dactylic hexameter (Units 1 and 4)
Enjambment only works because hexameter trains your ear to expect a pause at line's end. Every line of epic has six feet, so the line break is a built-in finish line. Enjambment gets its punch by blowing past it. Meter (AP Latin 4.3.H) and enjambment are two sides of the same rhythm.
Asyndeton and Polysyndeton (Unit 4)
These are the connector-word devices, dropping conjunctions for speed or piling them up for weight. Together with enjambment they form your toolkit for the analytical essay, where you name a device, quote the Latin, and explain its effect. The skill is identical; only the device changes.
Ulysses and the Trojan Horse narrative (Unit 4)
The required Book 2 passages, including Sinon's speech and Laocoon's death (lines 40-56 and 201-249), are where you'll meet enjambment in the wild. Vergil uses it to ratchet up suspense in exactly the scenes where Troy's fate hangs in the balance, which gives you ready-made evidence for an interpretation under AP Latin 4.3.K and 4.3.L.
Enjambment is one of the named stylistic devices the CED expects you to recognize and analyze in the required Vergil passages. Multiple-choice questions can ask you to identify a word-order device in a printed passage, and the short-answer and essay questions reward the full move under AP Latin 4.3.N, 4.3.O, and 4.3.Q. That means citing the exact Latin words involved, naming the device, and explaining the effect of the delay. The big trap is identification without analysis. Writing "Vergil uses enjambment in line 204" earns nothing by itself. Writing that the delayed verb at the line's start makes the serpents' attack land suddenly after a moment of suspense is what scores. Always tie the device back to suspense or emphasis, the two effects the CED itself names.
Both are word-order devices listed together under AP Latin 4.3.G, but they work differently. Synchysis interlocks two pairs of words in an a-b-a-b pattern (usually adjective-adjective-noun-noun) to weave ideas together within a line. Enjambment is about the line break, delaying the final word of a thought until the start of the next line. Quick test: if the effect depends on where the line ends, it's enjambment; if it depends on the woven a-b-a-b arrangement, it's synchysis.
Enjambment is the delay of the final word of a phrase, clause, or sentence to the beginning of the following poetic line, and the CED says its purpose is to create suspense or emphasis.
The delayed word lands in the emphatic first position of the new line, so it almost always carries the dramatic weight of the sentence.
Enjambment is named in the essential knowledge for AP Latin 4.3.G alongside synchysis, making both fair game on multiple-choice and essay questions about word order.
On the essay, naming the device is not enough; you have to quote the specific Latin and explain how the delay shapes meaning, per AP Latin 4.3.N, 4.3.O, and 4.3.Q.
Enjambment depends on dactylic hexameter for its effect, because the meter creates the expectation of a pause at line's end that the run-over sentence then breaks.
Look for enjambment in the suspenseful moments of Aeneid Book 2, like the serpents attacking Laocoon in lines 201-249, where Vergil delays verbs to stretch out the tension.
Enjambment is when a poet delays the final word of a phrase, clause, or sentence to the start of the next poetic line instead of finishing the thought at the line's end. The AP Latin CED lists it under word order as a stylistic device (AP Latin 4.3.G) and says it creates suspense or emphasis.
Not quite. Lots of Latin sentences span multiple lines without anyone calling it enjambment. The device specifically refers to the deliberate delay of a thought's final word to the next line's opening, where its placement creates suspense or emphasis. If the run-over does nothing for the meaning, it's not worth writing about.
Synchysis is interlocking word order in an a-b-a-b pattern within a line, like adjective-adjective-noun-noun. Enjambment is about the line break, pushing a thought's final word into the next line. The CED lists both together as word-order devices under AP Latin 4.3.G, which is why they get confused.
No. Scansion deals with dactyls and spondees (AP Latin 4.3.H), while enjambment is about where the sentence ends relative to where the line ends. You can spot enjambment just by checking whether the grammar of a sentence completes at the line break or spills past it.
Yes. It's explicitly named in the essential knowledge for AP Latin 4.3.G, so you can be asked to identify it in the required Vergil passages or use it as cited evidence in the analytical essay. The scoring rewards quoting the Latin and explaining the effect of the delay, not just dropping the term.