The Word of the Day

caesura \sih-ZYUR-uh\ noun
1 : a break in the flow of sound usually in the middle of a line of verse
*2 : break, interruption
3 : a pause marking a rhythmic point of division in a melody

Example sentence: "Without so much as the caesura of a drawn breath I was first shouting in joy, then screaming in shock." (E.L. Doctorow, _World's Fair_)

Did you know? Caesuras (or caesurae) are those slight pauses one makes as one reads verse. While it may seem that their most obvious role is to emphasize the metrical construction of the verse, more often we need these little stops (which may be, but are not necessarily, set off by punctuation) to introduce the cadence and phrasing of natural speech into the metrical scheme. The word "caesura," borrowed from Late Latin, is ultimately from Latin "caedere" meaning "to cut." Nearly as old as the 450-year-old poetry senses is the general meaning "a break or interruption."

I will be away from this blog for 1 week, returning Monday 12 June.