WORD OF THE DAY
A caesura is a break in a conversation, a line of verse, or a song. Usually, a caesura means total silence, but not for long.
A caesura is a pause, or an interruption. In musical notation, a caesura is a break in the music, which can be a good time for a trumpet player to catch his breath. A caesura is also a break in the middle of a line of poetry. It is sometimes marked by a question mark, exclamation point, or period, as in the Sylvia Plath poem “Mirror”: “I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers."
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Vocabulary lists containing caesura
One of the stumbling blocks when trying to study poetry is that it seems like a different world. Familiar things, like words, are put to unfamiliar use, and there is an entire descriptive vocabulary that is completely foreign and quite often puzzling. This list seeks to explain the words used to describe poetry through examples from famous poems. Nassim Nicholas Taleb said, "If you want to annoy a poet, explain his poetry," but we are willing to take that risk to make the world of literary analysis a little clearer and further illuminate the mystery of poetry.
If you want to be well-versed in poetry, review this vocabulary list. Learn about parts of a poem, genres of poetry, literary devices, rhyme and meter, and more. This list is truly poetry in motion!
Learn these words from Into Literature, Grade 12, Unit 1, Lesson 1.
Eighteen-year-old Ella Minnow Pea fights to save her family, friends, and neighbors after the local government forbids the use certain letters of the alphabet in written and spoken communications.
