CÆSURA-ENJAMBEMENT A. THE CESURA If we read aloud lines of from one to nine syllables, we shall find that there is no need to let the voice pause on or after any one syllable: the lines are so short that we feel no need to make a break in them. In lines of ten or more syllables it becomes necessary to let the voice pause after one of the syllables. When such a pause is hardly perceptible it is termed a weak casura, when it is more marked it is termed a strong cæsura.1 Ex.: "Je ne veux point ici | rappeler le passé Ni vous rendre raison | du sang que j'ai versé”. In Classical and Romantic verse of ten, eleven, and twelve syllables the strong casura always follows a sounded syllable. When the syllable which should be followed by a strong cæsura ends in e mute, the e mute should be elidable 2 (cf. Elision, p. 4). We shall now examine, in succession, the occurrence of the cæsura in lines of thirteen, twelve, eleven, and ten syllables. We shall then furnish examples of lines containing a less number of syllables. With reference to lines of sixteen, fifteen, and fourteen syllables, it is enough to note that these forms are especially used for songs, and that the music indicates the cæsuras in their case. I. Lines of Thirteen Syllables.-These are to be found, for the most part, in vogue in the nineteenth century. 1 We shall designate the weak casura by, the strong casura by. ||, the strengthened weak casura by I, and the weakened strong casura by ||. (See p. 11, sqq.) 2 There is an exception in the case of the pronouns le, que, me, which may occur in the sixth syllable of the line. This is only an apparent exception, as this e cannot really be called an e mute. See examples, p. 21. Cf.: "L'univers sachez-le || qu'on l'exècre ou qu'on l'aime Cache un accord profond des destins balancés". -Sully-Prudhomme, iii. 241. Théodore de Banville often cuts them by a strong cæsura placed between the fifth and sixth syllable. Ex.: "Le chant de l'Orgie || avec des cris au loin proclame Le beau Lysias, || le dieu vermeil comme une flamme; Qui, le thyrse en main || passe rêveur et triomphant A demi couché || sur le dos d'un éléphant". This form of verse found many followers in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Verlaine, Jean Moréas, and Henri de Régnier varied in their treatment of the cæsura. Verlaine for the most part placed the cæsura after the sixth syllable (6+7); and, thus divided, lines of thirteen syllables flow very smoothly, but can only be used in short poems, as they become wearisome to the ear. In the imitation of Verlaine, which Anatole France introduces into his novel Le Lys Rouge, the strong cæsuras mostly occur between the sixth and seventh syllables. "Je vous louerai, | mon Dieu, || d'avoir fait aimable et clair "Je vous louerai | d'avoir créé le seigneur soleil Qui luit à tout le monde, I et de l'avoir voulu faire Aussi beau qu'il est bon, || très digne de vous, vermeil, Splendide et rayonnant, || en forme exacte de sphère. "Je vous louerai | mon Dieu, I pour notre frère le vent, Pour notre sœur | la Lune || et pour nos sœurs les étoiles, Et d'avoir au ciel bleu || mis le nuage mouvant Et tendu les vapeurs du matin | comme des toiles. "Je vous louerai, | Seigneur, II je vous bénirai, mon Dieu, "Pour notre sœur la Vie, || et pour notre sœur la Mort -Anatole France, Le Lys Rouge, p. 289. "La détresse dit: | Ce sont des songes anciens, Les étendards fuient dans la nuit | et c'est la panique”. 2. The Alexandrine (lines of 12 syllables). A. Classical Verse. Here the strong cæsura must divide the line into two hemistichs, or half-lines, as expressed by the formula (6+6). The cæsura must coincide with a pause in the sense. This is the rule formulated by Boileau in the following lines, which also illustrate it: "Que toujours | dans vos vers || le sens | coupant les mots Qu'un repos uniforme || attache | auprès de lui. -Voltaire, Encyclopédie, art. "Hémistiche". Thus Boileau's rule, specially applicable to what he considered the higher forms of verse, comprising tragedy, satire, epistolary writing, and didactic poetry, though generally observed, is not rigorous. Care must be taken 1 Published by Calmann-Lévy. By kind permission of the author and publisher. that the strong cæsura shall not divide up groups of words which are closely related; the cæsura should not come between the auxiliary and the past participle, between the verb être and the predicative substantive or adjective, between the preposition and the substantive which it governs, or between a conjunction and the subordinate sentence. If, however, one of these liberties be taken, the second hemistich must be completely filled by the rest of the group of words of which only the first part is in the first hemistich, as in line 3 of the quotation from Voltaire given above, and in the following: "Mais crains que, | l'avenir || détruisant le passé, “La vertu | n'était point || sujette à l'ostracisme.” There are, as a rule, two weak cæsuras in the alexandrine, one in the first and one in the second hemistich. This is the case in all the examples quoted above, and in the following: "Oui je viens dans ton temple || adorer | l'Éternel ". -Racine, Athalie, i. 1. "Qui frappe l'air, | bon Dieu! || de ces lugubres | cris? Est-ce donc pour veiller || que l'on dort | à Paris?" -Boileau, Sat. viii. "Ils ne mouraient pas tous, || mais tous | étaient frappés." -La Fontaine, Les Animaux malades de la Peste. "Cependant que mon front, || au Caucase | pareil, Non content | d'arrêter || les rayons de soleil, Brave l'effort de la tempête." -La Fontaine, Le Chêne et le Roseau. This is indeed the typical and most harmonious form of the Classical Alexandrine; it is divided into two groups of six syllables by the strong cæsura, and each group of six is again divided into two groups of three syllables by the weak cæsura. This is formulated as follows: The rhythm in Classical French verse is therefore either binary or quaternary. It is principally by variation of the position of the weak cæsura that the higher forms of classical verse mentioned above obtain their variety of effect. But the authors of these forms of verse also employed other means which have been more fully elaborated in Romantic verse. One finds frequent cases of 'weak' cæsuras which are greater in length and in intensity than the nominal 'strong' cæsura. This is especially the case in the first hemistich of tragic and satiric verse. In reading the following the voice stops at the weak caesura and not after the sixth syllable, and the whole of the line that follows this strengthened weak cæsura is read without regard to the weakened strong cæsura: Ex.: "Mourez donc | et gardez || un silence inhumain... Cruelle! | quand ma foi || vous a-t-elle déçue? In their lighter verse, however, Racine, Molière, Boileau, and La Fontaine follow the tradition of Régnier and Ronsard, which was taken up later by Chénier, and fixed by the genius of Victor Hugo. As we see in the following examples, these poets used the strengthened weak cæsura in the first hemistich, followed by a hardly perceptible cæsura in the second hemistich :— “Ma foi | sur l'avenir || bien fou | qui se fiera... C'est dommage, il avait le cœur | trop au métier... We find similar instances in Molière: "Parbleu! | c'est là-dessus || parler en homme sage... Souffrons donc | que le temps || forme des nœuds si doux, Mais cependant | je m'offre || entièrement à vous, |