Calendrical caesura

Device
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A pause in the line synchronized with calendar divisions (solstice, equinox, lunar phase)

Detailed Definition
Calendrical caesura is a metrical pause aligned with seasonal, liturgical, or astronomical divisions (e.g., solstices), structuring poems around natural or ritual time; it appears in georgic poetry, medieval lyrics, and contemporary ecopoetics marking temporal thresholds.
Example
Example in poetry:
Calendrical caesura aligns pauses with seasonal or temporal markers: in haiku, the kireji (cutting word) acts as calendrical caesura (“Old pond— || frog jumps in”); John Clare’s nature poems use caesura to mark solstices; contemporary eco-poets insert caesura at equinox references; the form links poetic rhythm to cosmic cycles; calendrical caesura appears in agricultural and ritual verse
Additional Notes
Caesura positioned according to calendar, seasonal, or temporal metaphor. Highly specialized term. Related: caesura, temporal structure. Rare usage; more conceptual than practical application.
Also Known As
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