Wednesday, February 20, 2019

What is an example of a caesura in "The Wanderer"?

In addition to the multitude of caesurae mentioned in the other answers, one of the final stanzas of the poem uses the natural pauses created by punctuation to make a series of statements that cause the reader to slow down and focus on the magnitude of what is being said:

All is misery-fraught in the realm of earth,the work of fortune changes the world under the heavens.Here wealth is loaned. Here friends are loaned.Here man is loaned. Here family is loaned—And this whole foundation of the earth wastes away! (106–110)

The first two lines of the stanza (lines 106–107) use the meter to initiate the pauses, asking the reader to absorb each line in its entirety. Lines 107–108 use periods to shift the pause pattern, adding refrains of "here" and "loaned" to cause the reader to focus specifically on how the relationship of those two concepts causes a "wasting away" of earth. There would be a caesura after each use of "Here," causing the reader to understand the gravity of the claim and feel the weight on themselves and their very moment in time. The caesurae break the metered line into specific, profound claims about the ruin of mankind.


The Caesura is a literary term referring to any hard or soft pause that occurs within a line of literature. It has its origin in the Latin word for 'cutting', the act that splits a subject or matter in two. In the Wanderer, one sees several examples of literal caesurae (plural caesura) and an overall theme of metaphorical caesura as the main character figuratively cuts ties with their homeland and breaks through faraway lands.
For example, the poem opens with:
Oft I alone must
Utter my sadness,
Each day before dawn.
We see an example of a literal caesura in line one between 'alone and must'. Simply speak the phase 'Oft I alone must' to notice the part between these two words. This subtle caesura presages the harder ones between each line of the poem.
Metaphorically, this passage reflects the cutting subject matter of The Wanderer. Consider how the poem opens on dawn, the divide between night and day. Similarly, the author's loneliness reflects an inherent separateness that echoes throughout the entirety of The Wanderer.
Throughout the entirety of The Wanderer, one can find a repetition of literal and metaphysical caesurae. Though one may expect such a fractured narrative to lessen the integrity of the poet's meaning, his willingness to persevere through brokenness demonstrates strength and fortitude. Even if one did not find the poem epic in its own right, the fact that it has persevered for over a millennia undoubtedly is.


In a poem, a pause formed by the rhythms of natural speech rather than meter constitutes a caesura.  Caesurae (plural form of caesura) can appear in the middle of a line, but they can come at the beginning or end of a line too.
Several caesurae appear in the following lines,

So I, wandering, Bereft of my homeland, Far from my kinsmen, Oft in wretchedness, My innermost feelings Am forced to fetter, Over these long yearsSince my lord I buriedDeep in the dark earth [...]

There is one caesura after "I" in the first line and another after "wandering."  In fact, each comma marks a caesura.  In the second to last line, there would be a caesura after "Since" and another after "lord;" this sets off "my lord" as the direct object of the predicate "buried."  
In the lines below, a caesura is located both before and after "in youth."

How in youth his lord,Ever treasure's friend,Won him to wining.Dead now all joyfulness!

Another caesura is located after the word "Dead" in the last line of the above. We would naturally pause to emphasize that word and all its implications for joy.


A caesura is a pause that usually occurs in the middle, or towards the end, of a poetic line. There are two types of caesura: masculine, which is a harder pause and usually occurs after a long or accented syllable in the line, and feminine, which is a softer pause and usually occurs after a non-stressed and short syllable.
There are several examples of caesurae in "The Wanderer." This poem's first caesura occurs in the first few lines: "No man, to whom / I'd clearly speak..." The caesura, a masculine caesura, occurs after the comma before "to whom" and creates a kind of rhythm. 
Another example of a caesura in this poem occurs a few lines later: "So I, wandering..." The caesura, masculine again, occurs after the comma. A caesura often is used to create breath and call the reader's attention to some information in the line, and, in this case, the caesura emphasizes the "I," and the fact that this speaker is wandering. 

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