Diaeresis is the separation of two vowels that are ordinarily pronounced as a single syllable into two syllables--or the forcing of an older pronunciation that existed before the vowels had become slurred together. This separation makes the word in question fit an established meter. (This is the opposite of synaeresis.) The most common example of this is in the later Renaissance, when the ending brought into English with many French words, "-ion," was acquiring our modern pronunciation of "shun," as in the word  separa-shun that appeared in the previous sentences. In French, that ending is two syllables, and it was still possible in 1650 and later to imagine the word as being pronounced as se-par-ray-she-un or even as se-par-ray-tee-one, giving five syllables and an additional foot to complete a line. As an affectation, this practice can even be found in twentieth-century poems. Here is an example from Milton's "Il Penseroso"; to complete the line and to rhyme, it is pronounced con-tem-play-she-own.

                            But, first and chiefest, with thee bring
                            Him that yon soars on golden wing,
                            Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne,
                            The Cherub Contemplation
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