Early in the Morning

Li-Young Lee is also a master of the caesura. A caesura is a pause or break within a line of poetry. It is often indicated through punctuation and can occur anywhere after the first word and before the last. There can also be more than one caesura in any given line. Caesurae are used to provide variation in the rhythm of a poem or to emphasize certain words or phrases. For example, in “Early in the Morning,” the first stanza is one long sentence. Lee provides breaks in each line to vary the sentence’s rhythm so that it flows gracefully when read. Caesura are marked by the “double pipe” symbol—||—when analyzing poetry.

The first stanza of “Early in the Morning” is marked below:

While the long || grain is softening

in the water, || gurgling

over a low stove flame, || before

the salted || Winter || Vegetable is sliced

for breakfast, || before the birds,

my mother glides || an ivory comb

through her hair, || heavy

and black || as calligrapher’s ink.

Lee’s caesurae occur naturally and mimic the cadence of regular speech. The breaks are often identified by comas but occasionally they occur sonically. The caesura in Line 1 occurs between “long” and “grain” due to the repetition of the “g” consonant sound. A pause is needed after “long” before repeating a similar sound in the word “grain.”