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54-503: The Alcaic stanza exists only in a few fragments of Alcaeus's poetry. As used by Alcaeus it has the following scheme (where "–" is a longum , "u" a breve , and "×" an anceps ): An example, quoted by Athenaeus, is: Apart from a single poem of Statius ( Silv. 4.5), the Alcaic stanza appears to have been used in Latin only by Horace , who employed it in 37 of his 103 Odes . In Horace

108-481: A longum is often called a "long syllable" and a brevis a "short syllable", potentially creating confusion between syllable length and vowel length ). Similarly, in Classical Sanskrit meter , metrical patterns consisted of arrangements of syllable weight groups, called gaṇas (parallel to Greek metrical feet ). A heavy syllable was named guru , and a light syllable was laghu . A syllable

162-405: A caesura , in the middle of the third foot, as in lines 1, 5, and 6 above. However, for variety the position of the caesura can change, for example to the middle of the 2nd foot, as in lines 2 and 4, or the middle of the 4th foot, as in lines 3 and 7. There is never a word-break exactly in the middle of the line, although pastoral poetry (such as that of Theocritus ) often makes a word-break between

216-400: A branching nucleus and a coda) and/or CVCC syllables (with a coda consisting of two or more consonants) as superheavy syllables . In moraic theory , heavy syllables are analyzed as containing two morae, light syllables one, and superheavy syllables three. The distinction between heavy and light syllables plays an important role in the phonology of some languages, especially with regard to

270-548: A break (dieresis) in the middle of the line, or a caesura (word-break) after the first syllable of the second half. It is probable that it gets its name from the poet Eupolis , who may have used it. The speech in the Clouds starts as follows: Lyric meters (literally, meters sung to a lyre ) are usually less regular than non-lyric meters. The lines are made up of feet of different kinds, and can be of varying lengths. Some lyric meters were used for monody (solo songs), such as some of

324-425: A nasal will not necessarily lengthen a syllable. The final syllable of a line, even if short by nature, is, if the relevant hypothesis is accepted, generally considered long (" brevis in longo "), as in the opening line of Euripides ' play The Bacchae : An exception to the brevis in longo rule is occasionally found in lyric poetry when lines sometimes form a continuous system without a pause between one line and

378-439: A plosive + liquid combination; but for poetic purposes such syllables were treated as either long or short. Thus in the opening speech of the play Oedipus Tyrannus , Sophocles treats the first syllable of τέκνα / tékna / as long in line 1, but as short in line 6. Different kinds of poetry use different patterns of long and short syllables, known as meters (UK: metres). For example, the epic poems of Homer were composed using

432-526: A short syllable was sung to a short note, while the long syllables were sung to longer notes, or to a group of two or three short notes. The word-accents in Greek poetry did not affect the meter, but contributed to the melody, in that (judging from the Seikilos inscription and other fragments) syllables with an acute accent tended to be sung on a higher pitch, and those with a circumflex were sung on two notes,

486-408: A word accent on the 5th syllable of the line, which occurs in 67% of the lines. Another form of the line is to end in a polysyllable + disyllable (e.g. Tītānas immānemque turbam ). This puts an accent on the 6th syllable of the line. It is uncommon at first (only 5% in book 1 and 6% in book 2) but becomes more common in the later books (25% in book 3 and 30% in book 4). A tetrasyllable ending in

540-579: Is Tennyson 's "Milton": O mighty-mouth'd inventor of harmonies, O skill'd to sing of Time or Eternity,      God-gifted organ-voice of England,            Milton , a name to resound for ages! The Alcaic stanza was adapted to use in English and French during the Renaissance. It was very frequently used in Italian poetry of

594-407: Is a light syllable . In other languages, only CVV syllables are heavy, while CVC and CV syllables are light. In yet other languages, CVV syllables are heavy and CV syllables are light, while some CVC syllables are heavy (for instance if the coda is a sonorant) and other CVC syllables are light (for instance if the coda is an obstruent). Some languages distinguish a third type, CVVC syllables (with both

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648-411: Is a requirement that main stress fall on a heavy syllable whenever possible: (' H L)σ, and not *(H' L )σ. In Ancient Greek hexameter poetry and Latin literature , lines followed certain metrical patterns, such as based on arrangements of heavy and light syllables. A heavy syllable was referred to as a longum and a light as a brevis (and in the modern day, reflecting the ancient terms,

702-559: Is derived from the Greek verb τρέχω "I run" and it was considered a livelier and faster rhythm than the iambic. The anapestic (or anapaestic) tetrameter catalectic is used in comedy. It is described as a 'dignified' meter and is used in Aristophanes ' Clouds (961-1009) for the speech of the character Just Argument describing how boys were expected to behave in the good old days. It begins as follows: Aristophanes also uses this metre for Socrates 's solemn invocation summoning

756-405: Is known as a " metron ", consisting of two feet. In the first and second metron, one of the two long syllables may be replaced by two short ones, making the following possible variations: Occasionally also, especially to accommodate a proper name, as in lines 2 and 3 of the example below, the anceps syllable may be replaced by two shorts: Unlike most other kinds of Greek poetry, it appears that

810-455: Is known as the Iambic septenarius . There is often a break (dieresis) between the two halves of the line, but as the above example shows, this is not always found. Occasionally, as an alternative to iambic, Greek playwrights use trochaic feet, as in the trochaic tetrameter catalectic. According to Aristotle ( Poet. 1449a21) this was the original meter used in satyr plays. In the extant plays, it

864-537: Is lengthened to make οὐλομένην , the name "Achilles" is sometimes pronounced with a double and sometimes with a single "l" Ἀχιλλεύς, Ἀχιλῆος , and so on. He also uses the past tense of verbs sometimes with the augment ἐ- , e.g. ἔθηκε , and sometimes without it, e.g. τεῦχε . The line is divided into six feet, known as dactyls (– u u) and spondees (– –). In this opening passage of the Iliad, dactyls and spondees are equally common, although overall in Greek hexameters,

918-405: Is more often used in comedy, although occasionally also in tragedy (e.g. Aeschylus ' Agamemnon 1649-73). The basic double foot or metron is | – u – x |. Here is an example from Aristophanes ' Clouds (607ff), where the leader of the chorus of Clouds addresses the audience: When used in tragedy, there is always a break ( dieresis ) in the middle of the line, but as can be seen above, this

972-513: Is not always the case in comedy. This metre is also frequently used in Roman comedies, where it is known as the Trochaic septenarius . Some authors analyse this catalectic form of the meter not as trochaic but as iambic, with initial not final catalexis. In general, however, ancient writers seem to have recognised that trochaic meters had a different character from iambic. The name "trochaic"

1026-437: Is not observed. Sometimes even a short element can be replaced by two short syllables, making for example: However, the last foot of the line is always an iamb: | .... u – |. As an example of the comic version of the iambic trimeter, here are the opening lines of Aristophanes ' play Lysistrata . A short element is resolved in lines 2, 4, 6, and 7; Porson's Law is broken in lines 1, 7 and 8: Other meters are also used for

1080-415: Is syllabic (11/11/9/10). There is no accentual metrical pattern. German has also used alcaics with some success. They were introduced by Klopstock , and used by Hölderlin , by Johann Heinrich Voss in his translations of Horace, by August Kopisch and other 19th century German poets. Syllable weight In linguistics , syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to

1134-403: Is the theory and practice of versification. Greek poetry is based on syllable length , not on syllable stress , as in English. The two syllable lengths in Greek poetry are long and short . It is probable that in the natural spoken language there were also syllables of intermediate length, as in the first syllable of words such as τέκνα / tékna / 'children', where a short vowel is followed by

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1188-589: The 16th century) Alcaics were used very rarely. Even in translation Horace 's Alcaic stanzas were usually turned into different forms. An example (perhaps the only) of an Alcaic stanza in Polish original literature is Stanisław Trembecki's Ode to Adam Naruszewicz : O ty, kapłanie Delijskiego świętny, Przeszłego wiadom, przyszłości pojętny      Wieńcz twe skronie, wieszczą bierz laskę,           Śnieżny ubiór i złotą przepaskę. Trembecki's verse

1242-476: The 19th century, especially by Giosuè Carducci . As in English, the meter is accentual rather than quantitative. Poi che un sereno vapor d’ambrosia da la tua còppa diffuso avvolsemi,      o Ebe con passo di dea           trasvolata sorridendo via; In Polish poetry (in contrast to the Sapphic stanza which was extremely popular since

1296-512: The 3rd line (e.g. nōdō coercēs vīperīnō ) or double disyllable ending (e.g. prōnōs relābī posse rīvōs ), on the other hand, putting an accent on the 4th syllable of the line, is not common: only 7% in book 1, 8% in book 2; and not found at all in books 3 and 4. But 3rd lines ending with a monosyllable + trisyllable (e.g. stetēre causae cūr perīrent ) seem more acceptable, and form 20% of lines in book 1, 15% in book 2, 7% in book 3, and 11% in book 4. A famous example of English Alcaics

1350-505: The 4th and 5th foot, known as a "bucolic caesura". The dactylic hexameter is also used for short epigrams, such as Simonides ' epigram commemorating the Spartans who died in the battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC. In this case it is joined with a pentameter , consisting of two sections of two and a half feet each. The second half of a pentameter always has | – u u | – u u | – |, without variation. The dactylic hexameter-pentameter couplet

1404-418: The Alcaic stanza takes this form: (An "–" denotes a long syllable, "u" a short one, x is anceps (long or short), and ":" is the caesura.) The first syllable in lines 1 to 3 is sometimes short (13 times in book 1), but usually long. The 5th syllable, unlike in Greek, is always long. There is almost always a word-break after the 5th syllable. Certain developments can be observed in the Alcaic stanza over

1458-638: The Clouds in Clouds (263-274), and in the Frogs (589-604) he uses it when the late poet Aeschylus is explaining his views about modern poetry. Anapaestic verse is always found in dimeters or tetrameters, each dimeter consisting of four feet. The most common type of foot is the spondee (– –), followed by the anapaest (u u –), then the dactyl (– u u). The exact proportions of the different kinds of feet differ in different authors; for example, anapaests make up 26% of

1512-476: The above rules of heavy and light syllables: As noted above, the number and order of heavy and light syllables in a line of poetry (together with word breaks ) articulated the meter of the line, such as the most famous classical meter, the epic dactylic hexameter . Prosody (Greek) Prosody (from Middle French prosodie , from Latin prosōdia , from Ancient Greek προσῳδίᾱ ( prosōidíā ), "song sung to music; pronunciation of syllable")

1566-518: The assignment of stress . For instance, in the Sezer stress pattern in Turkish observed in place names, the main stress occurs as an iamb (i.e. penultimate stress) one syllable to the left of the final syllable: (L' L )σ. However, when the foot contains a heavy syllable in the first syllable while the second syllable is light, the iamb shifts to a trochee (i.e. antepenultimate stress) because there

1620-463: The classical era pronounced a consonant as part of a preceding syllable only when it was followed by other consonants, due to the rules of Greek and Latin syllabification . In a consonant cluster, one consonant ends the preceding syllable and the rest start the following syllable. For example, Latin syllabifies volat as vo-lat but dignus as dig-nus and monstrum as mon-strum . A few exceptions to and elaborations of

1674-500: The course of the four books of Horace's Odes . For example, the short syllable at the beginning of the first three lines becomes less frequent in the course of books 1 to 3 and is not found at all in Book 4. A notable feature of Horace's Alcaics is the heavy word which usually fills the centre of the 3rd line. The most common pattern is for the line to end with a polysyllable + trisyllable (e.g. Augustus adiectīs Britannīs ). This puts

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1728-454: The dactylic foot is slightly more common (in the ratio 60-40), while in Latin hexameters the spondee is more common (in the same ratio). The fifth foot in Greek hexameters is nearly always a dactyl; in Homer only 1 line in 18 has a spondaic fifth foot. Because the final syllable in a line is long by position, the last foot is always a spondee. Often there is a slight pause in the line, known as

1782-430: The dialogue of tragedies, pastoral poetry, and didactic poetry. A characteristic of these metres is that every line is the same length throughout the poem (except for the elegiac couplet, in which the whole couplet is repeated throughout the poem). The earliest Greek poetry, namely the poems ascribed to Homer and Hesiod , is written in dactylic hexameters , of which the basic scheme is as follows: In this meter any of

1836-437: The dialogues of comedies, especially when there is a change of pace or mood. One such meter is the iambic tetrameter. This metre is generally catalectic , that is, the last syllable is removed; since the final syllable of a line always counts as long, in catalexis the formerly short penultimate is changed to a long when it becomes final, as in this extract from Aristophanes play the Clouds (1399ff): In Roman comedies this meter

1890-589: The feet of anapaestic verse in Sophocles, but 39% in Aristophanes; dactyls make up 20% of anapaestic verse in Sophocles but only 6% in Aristophanes. In comedy a very small number of feet are proceleusmatic (u u u u). Other meters are also occasionally found in comedy, such as the Eupolidean. This is used in the second edition of Aristophanes' Clouds when the chorus leader steps forward in the persona of

1944-548: The final syllable of the word will be considered short, for example ἄξιός ἐστι ( áxiós esti ), syllabified as ak-si-o-ses-ti . The ancient prosodists divided lines of verse into ' feet ', each foot consisting usually of 3 or 4 syllables (but sometimes 2 or 5). These can be seen as roughly equivalent to bars in a line of music. The different varieties of feet were given different names, as follows: Macron and breve notation: – = long syllable; ᴗ = short syllable. Non-lyric meters are those used for narrative, funeral elegies,

1998-454: The final syllable. Catalectic lines tend to come at the end of a period or stanza: The process of anaclasis , the metathesis of a short and a long syllable, yields a second pattern called Anacreontic : Beyond these more common feet, a great amount of variation is possible within the Ionic meter because of anaclasis , catalexis , resolution (meter) and syncopation. This meter is used by

2052-404: The first higher than the second. (See Ancient Greek accent for musical examples.) There are rules that determine the length of any given syllable. A syllable is said to be "long by nature" if it contains a long vowel or a diphthong : A syllable is "long by position" if the vowel precedes the consonants ζ /zd/, ξ /ks/ or ψ /ps/ or two other consonants. However, a plosive followed by a liquid or

2106-404: The first syllable closed. A short syllable is a syllable which is open and which has a short vowel, such as khtho- or di- . If a word ends in a short vowel + consonant, such as ἄξιος ( áxios ), the final syllable will be treated as long by position if the next word starts with a consonant; but if the next word starts with a vowel, the consonant will be taken as part of the next syllable and

2160-500: The first word ( arma ) is heavy ("long by position") because it contains a short vowel (the A) followed by more than one consonant (R and then M)—and if not for the consonants coming after it, it would be light. The second syllable is light because it contains a short vowel (an A) followed immediately by only one consonant (the V). The next syllable is light for the same reason. The next syllable,

2214-483: The iambic trimeter was used for dialogue unaccompanied by music. The opening lines of Euripides ' play the Bacchae are scanned as follows (the resolved elements are underlined): The iambic trimeter is also the basic meter used in the dialogue parts of Greek comedies, such as the plays of Aristophanes and Menander . In comedy there tend to be more resolutions into short syllables than in tragedy, and Porson's Law

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2268-505: The ionic metre involves the use of choriambic feet | – u u – |, as in this choral song from Sophocles ' Oedipus Tyrannus (484-495). It starts with four choriambic dimeters, but then becomes Ionic (although some scholars analyse the whole ode as ionic). Aeolic verse mostly refers to the type of poems written by the two well-known poets of Lesbos , Sappho and Alcaeus , which was later imitated by Latin writers such as Horace . A development of Aeolic verse, but less regular and more varied,

2322-585: The lyric poets Alcman , Sappho and Alcaeus and also in some of the choral songs of certain tragedies and comedies. An example is the following from Euripides ' Bacchae 519-28. It is a choral song addressed to the stream Dirce , about the birth of the god Dionysus , whose mother Semele was struck by lightning. Like all choral songs in Athenian tragedy, it imitates the Doric α /ā/ in many words instead of η /ē/ (e.g. Δίρκα for Δίρκη 'Dirce'): A variation of

2376-432: The next, for example Aristophanes, Birds 333. When a single consonant comes between two vowels, such as in the word χθόνα ( khthóna ), the consonant is deemed to start the second syllable: χθό-να . A syllable ending in a vowel, like χθό-, is called an "open syllable". Note that ζ /zd/ , ξ /ks/ and ψ /ps/ count as two consonants, and a word like ἄξιος ( áxios ) is divided into syllables as ak-si-os , with

2430-452: The number and/or duration of segments in the rime . In classical Indo-European verse, as developed in Greek , Sanskrit , and Latin , distinctions of syllable weight were fundamental to the meter of the line. A heavy syllable is a syllable with a branching nucleus or a branching rime , although not all such syllables are heavy in every language. A branching nucleus generally means

2484-463: The pairs of short syllables (u u) can be replaced by a long syllable (–), although this is rare in the fifth foot. The opening lines of Homer's epic poem the Iliad are scanned as follows: In order to accommodate the words to the meter, Homer often varies them. Thus in the above extract, the final two vowels of Πηληϊάδεω are merged into one by synizesis , the first vowel of ὀλομένην "destructive"

2538-460: The pattern | – u u | – u u | – u u | – u u | – u u | – – | (the so-called dactylic hexameter , where – represents a long syllable, and u a short one.) It would appear that most Ancient Greek poetry, including the poems of Homer, was composed to be sung to music, and it is generally assumed by those who have reconstructed the surviving fragments of Greek music, such as the Seikilos epitaph , that

2592-458: The poems of Sappho and Alcaeus ; others were used for choral dances, such as the choruses of tragedies and the victory odes of Pindar . The basic unit of the Ionic meter is the minor Ionic foot, also called Ionic a minore or double iamb, which consists of two short and two long syllables. An Ionic line consists of two of these feet: Occasionally a line will be catalectic , that is, missing

2646-404: The poet himself and addresses the audience (518-562). The basic meter is | x x – x | – u u – | x x – x | – u – |, where the opening of each half is generally trochaic ( – u / – – ) but may occasionally be iambic ( u – / u u u ). Aristophanes uses the meter only here in his extant plays, although it is found occasionally in the surviving fragments of other playwrights. In this meter there is either

2700-449: The second syllable of the word virumque , is heavy ("long by position") because it contains a short vowel followed by more than one consonant (the M and then the Q). But, for example, the first syllable of the word Troiae is heavy ("long by nature") because it contains a diphthong, regardless of the sounds coming after it. Likewise, the fifth syllable of the second line (the first of

2754-411: The syllable has a long vowel or a diphthong ; this type of syllable is abbreviated as CVV. A syllable with a branching rime is a closed syllable , that is, one with a coda (one or more consonants at the end of the syllable); this type of syllable is abbreviated CVC. In some languages, both CVV and CVC syllables are heavy, while a syllable with a short vowel as the nucleus and no coda (a CV syllable)

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2808-466: The word fato ) is heavy ("long by nature") because it contains a long vowel, and it will be heavy no matter what sounds come after. (The word "Italiam" is a special case, in that poets treat it as having a long-by-nature first syllable which it actually has not, in order to make it fit somehow.) Terming a syllable "long by position" is equivalent to noting that the syllable ends with a consonant (a closed syllable), because Latin and Greek speakers in

2862-476: Was also used for elegies (hence the name " elegiac couplet ") and later, in writers such as Callimachus in the Hellenistic period , for poems about love. Another very common meter, which is used in the dialogues of Greek plays, is the iambic trimeter . The basic scheme for this is as follows (where "x" represents an anceps syllable, that is one which may be either long or short): The group | x – u – |

2916-511: Was considered heavy if it contained a long vowel or a diphthong (and was therefore "long by nature"—it would be long no matter what) or if it contained a short vowel that was followed by more than one consonant ("long by position", long by virtue of its relationship to the consonants following). On the other hand, a syllable was light if it was an open syllable and contained only a short vowel. An example in Latin: The first syllable of

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