Home › Glossary › Letter D

Dramatic caesura

Device
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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 forceful mid-line pause that heightens theatrical tension or shifts narrative focus abruptly.

Detailed Definition
Dramatic caesura breaks lines with emphatic stops, enacting pause's drama like stage beats. Shakespearean in soliloquies, it caesuras in Lowell's confessional ruptures. Poets use it to mimic speech's drama, building suspense. This device appears to theatricalize rhythm, engaging performance. Caesura dramatically intensifies emotion, making poetry alive with pause's power.
Example
Example in poetry:
Shakespeare's "Hamlet" caesura in "To be or not to be" for drama; Hypothetical: Caesura mid-battle cry for tension; Robert Browning dramatic caesuras in monologues; Sylvia Plath in "Ariel" for speed; Seamus Heaney dramatic in bog killings.
Additional Notes
Dramatic caesura theatricalizes pause, soliloquy technique; break forcefully; Shakespeare caesuras Hamlet; usage: for shift; scholars analyze performance aspects.
Also Known As
Theatrical break Emphatic pause
Skip to main content