How do I charge a melee attack?

Question

In Morrowind, you could hold down the attack button to charge an attack. Skyrim seems to automatically attack every time I press the button. This makes combat a lot trickier as I have to time my strikes and compensate for the weapon animation.

Clarification: I am looking for a way to charge an attack by pressing the button and actually swing the weapon when I release the button.

Answer 1

You still do power attacks by holding down the attack button, just as in the previous games.

You cannot do what you ask in your clarification. You can charge a power attack by clicking and holding the attack button, and the attack will occur a set amount of time after you started charging the attack, depending on the weapon and other factors. This works the same way that it did in Oblivion. The old ways of holding a charged attack back forever and releasing at will from Morrowind are gone.