What is the term for a pause or break in the middle of a line of blank verse?
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Correct answer: Caesura
A caesura is a rhythmic pause, often indicated by punctuation, that occurs within a line. Shakespeare utilized the caesura to break the monotony of the iambic rhythm and to emphasize specific words or emotional shifts.
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More Blank Verse questions
- When a character's speech continues from one line of verse to the next without a grammatical pause, it is called:
- Which metrical substitution involves reversing the stress of an iamb to a stressed-unstressed pattern, usually at the start of a line?
- What is an 'end-stopped' line in Shakespearean verse?
- Which of the following is a 'shared line' in Shakespearean drama?
- What is the purpose of 'scansion' in the study of Shakespearean verse?
- Shakespeare often concludes a scene written in blank verse with a 'capping' device. What is it?