Question

What is the difference between enjambment and caesura?

Answer 1

Hint: In the given question two poetry techniques have been mentioned. They are two of the most commonly used techniques which are related to the ‘pause’ at the end of a line in a poem. In order to tell the difference, we need to understand the meaning of both the terms.

Complete answer:
Let us first understand what the given words mean:
Enjambment - Enjambment is a literary device in which a line of poetry carries its idea or thought over to the next line without a grammatical pause. With enjambment, the end of a poetic phrase extends past the end of the poetic line. This means that the thought or idea “steps over” the end of a line in a poem and into the beginning of the next line. The absence of punctuation allows for enjambment, and requires the reader to read through a poem’s line break without pausing in order to understand the conclusion of the thought or idea.

Caesura - It's a pause that occurs within the line of a poem. Any punctuation mark can be used to indicate the pause.

Difference between enjambment and caesura is as follows:
- There are no pauses between the lines in enjambment whereas there are pauses within the line in caesura.
- Enjambment brings flow in the lines of a poem. Caesuras break the rhythm, thought or syntax of a line and can occur at the end as well as the middle of the sentence.

Note: Caesura is also of two types 1) masculine 2) feminine. Masculine caesura is a pause after a stressed syllable whereas female caesura is a pause after an unstressed syllable.