The poem's caesurae slow the reader down and draw attention to important words and phrases. Because the poem is made up mostly of enjambed lines which propel the reader forward, these pauses within lines provide balance.
For instance, lines 3-6 are all enjambed, creating a sense of momentum and urgency. But caesurae push back against the enjambments, giving the reader has time to take in the speaker's revelations:
The house withdrew into silence, || snakes moved
Among books, || I was then too young
To read, || and my blood turned cold like the moon
Note how the caesurae emphasize the important words that come before them:
- The house became "silen[t]" when the grandmother died, implying that it was filled with the comforting sounds of people before;
- the house was filled with "books," suggesting the speaker came from a literary family;
- and the grandmother died before the speaker could "read," implying that she was very young.
The poem also uses strong ellipses to suggest that time is passing or the speaker's voice is trailing off. In lines 1-2, for example, the speaker says:
There is a house now far away where once
I received love... || That woman died,
Here, the ellipsis gives readers a sense of just how "far away" in time and space this house (and everything it represents) is from the speaker.
Similarly, the poem uses ellipses in lines 12 and 14, bookending the important moment when the speaker directly addresses her "darling":
Dog... || you cannot believe, darling,
Can you, that I lived in such a house and
Was proud, and loved... || I who have lost
The caesurae in these instances mark the moment when the speaker moves from reflecting on her grief to discussing its effects in her later life (and on her relationships!).