Caesura

The caesura is a fixed rhythmic pause within a verse line that divides it into two relatively independent segments (hemistichs). The caesura is especially important in long measures — hexameter, the alexandrine, the Ukrainian syllabic thirteen-syllable line — where it orders the movement of the line and eases its pronunciation and perception. The position of the caesura is usually constant within a single work (for example, after the sixth syllable of a twelve-syllable line). The caesura not only segments the line rhythmically but often coincides with a syntactic boundary, underscoring the semantic opposition of the two hemistichs. Its shifting or omission is an expressive rhythmic device, noticeable against the background of the fixed scheme.