What effect does enjambment have in The Prelude's structure as described?

• A. It creates a strict rhyme
• B. Enjambment increases pace
• C. It fixes a regular meter
• D. It ends each line with a complete stop

Answer: (B)

Enjambment moves a sentence from one line to the next without a complete pause, so the reading keeps flowing. In The Prelude, Wordsworth uses this to keep the rhythm loose and forward-driving as images of nature and memories spill from one line into the next. The line breaks don’t signal a hard stop, which creates a breathless, continuous motion that mirrors the vast, unfolding landscape and the way the speaker’s thoughts expand with it. This keeps the pace quick and organic, giving the poem a sense of spontaneous, expansive narration rather than a strict, formal cadence. So the effect is to increase pace. It wouldn’t produce a strict rhyme, a fixed regular meter, or end each line with a full stop.