Acaesura (/sɪˈzjʊərə/,pl.caesuras orcaesurae;Latin for "cutting"), also writtencæsura andcesura, is ametrical pause or break in averse where one phrase ends and another phrase begins. It may be expressed by acomma (,), atick (✓), or two lines, either slashed (//) or upright (||). In time value, this break may vary between the slightest perception of silence all the way up to a fullpause.[1]
In classical Greek and Latin poetry a caesura is the juncture where one word ends and the following word begins within afoot. In contrast, a word juncture at the end of a foot is called adiaeresis. Some caesurae are expected and represent a point of articulation between two phrases or clauses. All other caesurae are only potentially places of articulation. The opposite of an obligatory caesura is a bridge where word juncture is not permitted.
In modern European poetry, a caesura is defined as a natural phrase end, especially when occurring in the middle of a line. Amasculine caesura follows astressedsyllable while afeminine caesura follows an unstressed syllable. A caesura is also described by its position in a line of poetry: a caesura close to the beginning of a line is called aninitial caesura, one in the middle of a line ismedial, and one near the end of a line isterminal. Initial and terminal caesurae are rare in formal,Romance, andNeoclassical verse, which prefer medial caesurae.
In versescansion, the moderncaesura mark is a doublevertical bar ⟨||⟩ or ⟨⟩, a variant of the single-barvirgula ("twig") used as a caesura mark in medieval manuscripts.[2] The same mark separately developed as thevirgule, the single slash used to mark line breaks in poetry.[2]
Caesurae were widely used inGreek poetry. For example, in the opening line of theIliad:
μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεὰ, ||Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
mênin áeide, theà, ||Pēlēïádeō Akhilêos
("Sing the rage, o goddess, || of Achilles, the son of Peleus.")
This line includes a masculine caesura after θεὰ, a natural break that separates the line into two logical parts. Homeric lines more commonly employ feminine caesurae; this preference is observed to an even higher degree among the Alexandrian poets.[3] An example of a feminine caesura is the opening line of theOdyssey:
ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα, ||πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ
ándra moi énnepe, Moûsa, ||polútropon, hòs mála pollà
("Tell me,Muse, of the man || of many wiles, who very much (wandered)")
Occasionally (about 1 line in 100) the caesura comes in the 4th foot only.[4]
Caesurae were widely used inLatin poetry, for example, in the opening line ofVirgil'sAeneid:
Arma virumque cano || Troiae qui primus ab oris
(Of arms and the man, I sing. || Who first from the shores of Troy...)
This line uses caesura in the medial position. In dactylic hexameter, a caesura occurs any time the ending of a word does not coincide with the beginning or the end of a metrical foot; in modernprosody, however, it is only called one when the ending also coincides with an audible pause in the line.
The ancientelegiac couplet form of the Greeks and Romans contained a line of dactylic hexameter followed by a line ofpentameter. The pentameter often displayed a clearer caesura, as in this example fromPropertius:
Cynthia prima fuit; || Cynthia finis erit.
(Cynthia was the first; Cynthia will be the last)
InOld English, the caesura has come to represent a pronounced pause in order to emphasize lines in Old English poetry that would otherwise be considered to be a droning, monotonous line.[5] This makes the caesura arguably more important to theOld Englishverse than it was to Latin or Greek poetry. In Latin or Greek poetry, the caesura could be suppressed for effect in any line. In thealliterative verse that is shared by most of the oldestGermanic languages, the caesura is an ever-present and necessary part of the verse form itself. The opening line ofBeowulf reads:
Hwæt! We Gardena || in gear-dagum,
þeodcyninga, || þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas || ellen fremedon.
(Behold! The Spear-Danes in days gone by,)
(and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness,)
(We have heard of these princes' heroic campaigns.)
The basic form isaccentual verse, with four stresses per line separated by a caesura. Old English poetry added alliteration and other devices to this basic pattern.
William Langland'sPiers Ploughman:
I loked on my left half || as þe lady me taughte
And was war of a woman || worþeli ycloþed.
(I looked on my left half / as the lady me taught)
(and was aware of a woman / worthily clothed.)
In theBrahmic scripts ofSouth andSoutheast Asia (e.g.Devanagari), a punctuation mark called thedanda is used to mark subdivisions in text, with single and double variants variously marking phrases, sentences, semi-verses, verses, or larger sections.[6]
An example of the use of danda as caesurae inIndian poetry is in the "dohas" or couplet poems ofSant Kabir Das, a 15th-century poet who was central to theBhakti movement inHinduism.[7] Kabir employs the danda to mark semi-verse and verse, as in the following couplet:
कस्तूरी कुंडल बसे मृग ढूँढत बन माहि ।
ज्यों घट घट में राम हैं दुनिया देखत नाहि ।।
Kastūrī kuṃḍala base, mṛga ḍhūm̐ḍhata bana māhi ।
Jyo ghaṭa ghaṭa rāma hai, duniyā dekhe nāhī ।।
(Musk lies in the musk deer's own nave ।)
(But roam in the forest he does – it to seek ।।)[8]
Caesura is very important in Polish syllabic verse (as inFrench alexandrine).[9] Every line longer than eight syllables is divided into two half-lines.[10] Lines composed of the same number of syllables with division in different place are considered to be completely different metrical patterns. For example, Polish alexandrine (13) is almost always divided 7+6. It has been very common in Polish poetry for last five centuries. But the metre 13(8+5) occurs only rarely and 13(6+7) can be hardly found. In Polishaccentual-syllabic verse caesura is not so important but iambic tetrametre (very popular today) is usually 9(5+4).[11] Caesura in Polish syllabic verse is almost always feminine, while in accentual-syllabic (especially iambic) verse it is often masculine: sSsSsSsS//sSsSsSsSs. There are also metrical patterns with two or three caesuras, for example 18[9(5+4)+9(5+4)].[12]
Caesurae can occur in later forms of verse, where they are usually optional. The so-calledballad meter, or thecommon meter of the hymnodists (see alsohymn), is usually thought of as a line ofiambic tetrameter followed by a line oftrimeter, but it can also be considered a line ofheptameter with a fixed caesura at the fourth foot.
Considering the break as a caesura in these verse forms, rather than a beginning of a new line, explains how sometimes multiple caesurae can be found in this verse form (from theballad,Tom o' Bedlam):
From the hag and hungry goblin || that into rags would rend ye,
And the spirits that stand || by the naked man || in the Book of Moons, defend ye!
In later and freer verse forms, the caesura is optional. It can, however, be used for rhetorical effect, as inAlexander Pope's line:
To err is human; || to forgive, divine.
In music, a caesura denotes a brief,silent pause, during whichmetrical time is notcounted. Similar to a silentfermata, caesurae are located between notes ormeasures (before or overbar lines), rather than on notes or rests (as with a fermata). A fermata may be placed over a caesura to indicate a longer pause.
Inmusical notation, a caesura is marked by double oblique lines, similar to a pair ofslashes⟨//⟩. The symbol is popularly called "tram-lines" in the UK and "railroad tracks" or "train tracks" in the US. The symbol is encoded in Unicode asU+1D113 𝄓MUSICAL SYMBOL CAESURA.
The length of a caesura where notated is at the discretion of the musician.
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