This paper examines the sonnets written by V. F. Pereleshin between 1971 and 1973, during which the poet composed several dozen iambic pentameter sonnets and fifteen hexameter sonnets. The caesura in these works is particularly noteworthy. While dactylic caesurae frequently occur in the pentameter sonnets, none of them feature a consistent dactylic caesura throughout. In contrast, Pereleshin’s hexameter sonnets employ a consistent dactylic caesura. In both pentameter and hexameter iambic verse, the dactylic caesura creates a sense of expansiveness and duration; within the Russian poetic tradition, this device traces its lineage back to nineteenth-century elegies and the poetry of Osip Mandelstam. Hexameter iambic verse with a dactylic caesura evokes antiquity and carries a solemn tone, frequently accompanying biblical and hagiographic subjects, themes of the ancient world and the Middle Ages, as well as philosophical and creative motifs. The regular use of a dactylic caesura in iambic hexameter enhances the autonomy of the first hemistichs, thereby maximizing the resemblance between the caesura and the line ending (clausula). The six-foot lines effectively split into mirror-image three-foot segments, where the odd-numbered segments feature a dactylic “clausula” and the even-numbered ones employ masculine and feminine clausulae–a technique that significantly diversifies the rigid rhyme scheme of the sonnet. Ultimately, the dactylic caesura, and especially its consistent use in hexameter sonnets, imparts a unique sonic quality to the poem and serves as a distinct hallmark of Pereleshin’s style.
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