Which term describes a pause within a line, often indicated by punctuation?

• A. End-stopped
• B. Caesura
• C. Meter
• D. Rhyme

Answer: (B)

A caesura is a pause inside a line, often indicated by punctuation such as a comma, dash, semicolon, or period. This break interrupts the flow of the line and can slow the pace, create emphasis on the pause itself, or reflect a natural spoken breath. End-stopped lines, by contrast, pause at the end of the line because the line ends with punctuation, giving a sense of completion. Meter refers to the overall pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables shaping the poem’s rhythm, not a single internal pause. Rhyme is the matching of sounds at line endings or within lines, unrelated to pauses inside the line. So the term that describes a pause within a line indicated by punctuation is caesura.