Hemistich
Poetry & prosodyEach of the two halves of a line cut by the caesura — six syllables in the classical alexandrine.
Example
In Old English verse, each line splits into two half-lines bound by alliteration.
The hemistich (Greek for "half-line") names each of the two parts of a verse separated by the caesura. In the classical alexandrine, two equal six-syllable hemistichs; in the traditional decasyllable, most often a 4 // 6 split.
The hemistich is the long line's breathing unit: the voice leans on it, meaning organizes around it. The swing of two symmetrical hemistichs naturally carries antithesis — the line's grammar then weds rhetoric. Breaking that expected symmetry, by straddling the caesura or deliberate imbalance, is one of modern verse's major expressive gestures.
Put this term to work
The writing studio novelists were missing
Outline, characters, places and objects, the links between them, mind map, scene board, export: everything lives in one place. Plus an AI that knows your story, whenever you want one.
Free to write and to export. No credit card asked.