Beowulf is one of the oldest surviving poems written in Old English. Poems written in Old English often used lots of caesura, and Seamus Heaney's modern English translation of Beowulf does an excellent job of preserving the original text's prolific use of caesurae. This example shows that, although the use of caesurae can create an unusual or jarring rhythm that might be perceived by some as more "modern," it has actually been in use for many centuries.

If you enjoy poetry and you like teaching it, your first experiences were probably relaxed, playful and fun. Discussions about poetry focused on personal responses, and you talked about the beauty of the language, noticed the musical quality of the words, or discussed how poetry made you feel. You learned that poems don’t have to rhyme and often break the rules of grammar, and if you were encouraged to write poetry, you probably wrote free verse.

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Blind submissions will be periodically sent to our Selection Committee comprised of professional Canadian poets. All correctly formatted submissions will receive response, regardless of acceptance. Response times vary from 4-6 months. No matter how you feel about poetry, if you’re an upper elementary teacher, you probably have to teach it at some point during the year. Poetry is included in most reading curriculums, and almost every standardized reading test has at least a few poems. Even if your students aren’t tested on poetry, there are many reasons to teach it. Just think about the amount figurative language used in poetry, and you’ll understand how learning to read and write poetry can improve comprehension of other types of text, too. Sometimes, my students write their own poetry in English class — all students should — but more often, a poetry pause involves reading a poem with an eye on what craft techniques we can apply to other writing, to pieces that argue, inform, tell a story, or analyze.

An initial caesura occurs at the beginning of a poetic line. Take the beginning of Shakespeare’s Hamlet’s famous soliloquy as an example: You can almost hear the speaker groan. Pausing helps emphasize how weary and restless the speaker is. You may even begin to wonder why the speaker is staying awake. Is she waiting for someone? You may spot an answer in the last two lines: Time passes, [pause] Try this as an introduction for your Autobiography of a Reader. ‘Books are like . . . Reading is like . . .’ Finish the simile and then keep exploring that idea with some metaphor in the sentences that follow. That can make an engaging introduction for a reader as you invite them into the scenes you’ve written.”

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I immediately set to work developing my webinar, How to Teach Kids to Love Poetry (Even if You Don’t), and it was a joy to be able to share exactly how I teach poetry, step by step. The webinar has been hit each time I’ve presented it, and it’s equally popular with teachers who love poetry and those who don’t… or those who didn’t enjoy it in the past! Cynthia finis erit. (Cynthia was the first; Cynthia will be the last) Old English [ edit ] In modern European poetry, a caesura is defined as a natural phrase end, especially when occurring in the middle of a line. A masculine caesura follows a stressed syllable while a feminine caesura follows an unstressed syllable. A caesura is also described by its position in a line of poetry: a caesura close to the beginning of a line is called an initial caesura, one in the middle of a line is medial, and one near the end of a line is terminal. Initial and terminal caesurae are rare in formal, Romance, and Neoclassical verse, which prefer medial caesurae. Notice how Poe’s use of caesuras further dramatize the situation and enforce the poem’s imagery. That, combined with internal rhymes (weary/dreary; napping/tapping) makes us read the poem in ways we usually wouldn’t do. Normally, we wouldn’t pause between “curious” and “volume” in the second line, but the structure of the poem encourages us to do so. July 26, 2023 Cross-Pollinations event will feature Anna Quon (a middle-aged, mixed race and Mad poet and novelist) and Dr. Sarah Blanchette (Assistant Professor in English and Cultural Studies at Huron University College). This session will include a poetry reading by Anna Quon and a presentation by Dr. Blanchette—both on themes related to madness and race.