Caesura, this word comes from the Latin coesura, that literally signifies incision, cut, gash , the Latin coedere (to cut, chop); the supine coesum , whence comes caesura . This word is only used among us by allusion and in a figurative sense, when speaking of the mechanics of verse.

The caesura is a rest that is taken for pronunciation of a verse after a certain number of syllables. This rest allows for breathing and produces a nice cadence for the ear: it is these two motives that introduced the caesura in poetry, easing pronunciation, cadence or harmony for the ear.

The caesura separates the verse in two parts, each of which is called a hemistich . That is to say half-verse, midway of the verse : this word is Greek. See Hemistich and Alexandrine.

In Latin, the name caesura is also given to the syllable after the rest and that syllable is the first of the subsequent foot:

The syllable no is the caesura, and begins the third foot.

In French, the caesura or rest is badly placed between certain words that should be said right away and that form together an inseparable meaning, according to the normal manner of speaking and reading; such are the preposition and its complement: so the following verse is defective.

It is the same for the verb is that is joining the attribute and the subject, as in this verse.

For the same reason, one should never have the noun and the adjective in a way that finishes the first hemistich, and the other starts the second, as in this verse.

Yet if the noun rounded out the first hemistich and was followed by two adjectives that complete the meaning, the verse would be good, as in:

This shows that in all these occasions the great rule is to consult the ear and to trust one's own judgment. In great verse, that is to say in that of twelve syllables, the caesura should be after the sixth syllable.

Observe that the sixth syllable should be a full syllable; therefore the rest cannot be done on a syllable that ends with a silent e: it is then necessary that this silent e comes in the seventh syllable and elides with the word that follows it.

In ten syllable verses, the caesura should be after the fourth syllable .

There is no prescribed point of caesura for verses with eight syllables, nor for those with seven; although one can see these types of verses read more harmoniously when there is a caesura after the third or fourth syllable in a verse of eight syllables, and after the third in one of seven.

Here are examples of verses with seven syllables.

This what we can observe in M. de la Fontaine's first fable.

Here I can only speak of verses of twelve, eight, and seven syllables; the rest are les harmonious and only hardly appear except in songs or pieces of caprice.