Answer – A caesura is a pause for rhythm in a line or sentence of poetry.
Explanation:
Pauses or breaths during the acts of speaking and/or reading lend them a rhythm. Rhythm is an important element in poetry, especially when it is read out loud.
Caesura is such a pause for rhythm as indicated by the poet. It may occur at the beginning (initial), in the middle (medial), or at the end (terminal) of a line or sentence of poetry. A caesura is indicated with two parallel lines – ||. It may occur along with a punctuation mark, such as a comma, or it may occur without any punctuation.
The following excerpt from ‘The Winter Tales’ by William Shakespeare demonstrates caesura with and without punctuation.
It is for for you we speak, || not for ourselves:
You are abused || and by some putter-on
In the first line, the caesura occurs after the word ‘speak’, along with a comma. In the second line, the pause is to be taken after the word ‘abused’.
