A pause or silence in the sonic texture of a poem, created through lack of sound devices, caesura, white space, or syntactic breaks that interrupt acoustic continuity. Unlike rests in music which are measured and notated, poetic acoustic rests are implied through various formal and syntactic means. These silences create emphasis, allow previous sounds to resonate, or provide contrast to acoustically dense passages. Acoustic rest recognizes silence as an active element of the poem's sound structure.

Acoustic rest refers to moments of silence, pause, or reduced sonic activity in a poem—marked by caesura, line breaks, or white space—that shape rhythm and emotional pacing.