Poetry Hacks

Caesura

What is it? A pause within a line of verse, rather than (or as well as) the pause expected at the end. Although some argue that nearly all lines of reasonable length contain one or more caesuras , it is usually best to use the term with more significant pauses. Some critics find it useful to distinguish different types: a masculine caesura follows a stressed syllable; a feminine caesura follows an unstressed syllable; an initial caesura comes near the start of a line; a medial caesura comes around the middle (which is typical); and a terminal caesura comes near the end of a line. What effect does it usually have? The regular placement of caesuras may be used to give further structure to lines of verse, as with Old English poetry (where medial caesuras are a formal requirement). Elsewhere, poets use caesuras in different positions to create a sense of variety, unpredictability or to make the verse seem less stiff and more speech-like — indeed, caesuras are often found alongside other irregular verse features, such as enjambment, creating a sense of disorder. See Understanding Versification and Rocking Lineation. What else should I look out for? Since it 'cuts' across the line, an individual caesura will often emphasise an important word or image, or may be used mimetically to portray something faltering (as in Robert Frost's phrase 'little — less — nothing' to describe the stopping of a heart).

An example of how it works … ‘An Essay on Man’ by Alexander Pope:

Man walked with beast, joint tenant of the shade; The same his table, and the same his bed; No murder clothed him, and no murder fed.

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