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10. CAESURA The poem has a few cases of caesura. They first appear midway through the poem. Toward the end, there's a cluster that represents the speaker's increasingly overwhelmed emotion. The first caesura, in line 7, slows the pace of the poem so that the reader can better appreciate the lone star's beauty. "Fair as a star, when only one," the line reads. First, the comma encourages the reader to consider the simile. In what ways are both Lucy and the star fair, or beautiful? For the speaker, this pause represents a respectful and awed acknowledgement of Lucy's beauty. The speaker is basking in the starlight and simply doesn't want it to end. The comma also divides two key phrases—"Fair as a star" and "when only one"—so that the reader can see that they work both together and separately. The "only one" refers primarily to the star, and therefore Lucy, but it might also refer to the speaker, who may be the "only one" who actually loved Lucy. The caesura in line 9 also represents a pause on the part of the speaker, but the reason for pausing is different. Rather than dwell in Lucy's beauty, the speaker avoids admitting what the speaker finally does in line 10: that "Lucy ceased to be." In that sense, the comma imitates the speaker's swollen throat, the choking up, the hesitant attempt to hold back tears. Finally, in line 11, caesura appears in a cluster: "But she is in her grave, and, oh." Again, the speaker hesitates, slows things down. The last word is important, and the speaker wants to get it right. So here, the caesura represents the speaker's care in delivering the final word on Lucy—"The difference to me!"—a young woman who, as the speaker has clearly demonstrated, deserved the best. Where Caesura appears in the poem: • Line 7: “,” • Line 9: “,” • Line 11: “,,” “,”