Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Are there specific rules about caesura that restrict us where we can place them?

Put your pauses wherever you wish but know that they will tell the reader how to read it. Poetry is meant to be read aloud. Or at least imagined so in the mind. Tell your reader how and where to...

posted 5y ago by Cyn‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-20T00:40:44Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45297
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T11:56:20Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45297
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T11:56:20Z (almost 5 years ago)
Put your pauses wherever you wish but know that they will tell the reader how to read it.

Poetry is meant to be read aloud. Or at least imagined so in the mind. Tell your reader how and where to pause.

- A comma.
- A final punctuating mark (period, exclamation mark, question mark).
- A line break.
- A stanza break.

These are the primary methods by which a poet indicates a pause, in order of length.

The line you quote comes from Michael Drayton's poem [Poly-Olbion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly-Olbion), "a topographical poem describing England and Wales," first published in 1612. He wrote it in alexandrine couplets, which [explains the odd punctuation mark in the middle that serves as a pause](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandrine).

> Whereas the French alexandrine is syllabic, the English is accentual-syllabic; and the central caesura (a defining feature of the French) is not always rigidly preserved in English...The strict English alexandrine may be exemplified by a passage from Poly-Olbion, which features a rare caesural enjambment (symbolized ¦) in the first line:
> 
> Ye sacred Bards, that to ¦ your harps' melodious strings

When others quote this stanza, they inevitably leave out the comma-like ¦. Why? Because that strict rhythm of alexandrine isn't necessary anywhere else. Like you say, it breaks the natural flow of the verse.

For Drayton, the rule wasn't that he couldn't put [the caesura](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/caesura) where he wanted to, but that he felt himself forced to add in a caesura where it otherwise wouldn't belong. And in a particularly awkward way to boot.

So pause where you want the reader to breathe.

If you choose a strict style and wish to adhere to it exactly, that's your choice, just know that sometimes it makes the reader do things you might not want.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-05-20T23:19:01Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 4