Shakespeare Level 2 Knowledge: PART 1

Caesural Pauses and Enjambment

Your students will be asked to:

Give a description of caesural pause and enjambment.

There are three steps to success:

👣 Define the words

👣 Give examples

👣 Explain

Let’s look at each one of these in more detail, starting with…

CAESURAL PAUSES

➡ STEP ONE: Define the word

IMPORTANT: Make sure your students UNDERSTAND the definition – the examiner can ask them to explain any of the words they use!

Here’s the definition given with the Shakespeare Level 2 syllabus (feel free to adapt it, but it’s a good place to start):

A Caesural Pause is a slight pause which occurs mid-line in verse, usually indicated by a break in sense and sometimes indicated by a punctuation mark.

➡ STEP TWO: Give an example

IMPORTANT: this does not have to come from the text performed in the exam, but does have to be one of the texts from Appendix 1 of the Shakespeare for Performance Level 2 syllabus.

Examples of caesural pauses can be found in these lines from the set texts:

There are lots of other examples – ideally they should try and find one in their own piece.

➡ STEP THREE: Explain