Anuṣṭubh ( Sanskrit : अनुष्टुभ् , IPA: [ɐnuˈʂʈubʱ] ) is a metre and a metrical unit, found in both Vedic and Classical Sanskrit poetry, but with significant differences.
10-483: By origin, an anuṣṭubh stanza is a quatrain of four lines. Each line, called a pāda (lit. "foot"), has eight syllables. Arnold distinguishes three varieties of anuṣṭubh in the Vedic corpus: an early free form, with very few restrictions except a general iambic (u – u x) tendency in the cadence ( vṛtta ) of each of the four pāda s; e.g. Next came a mildly trochaic development in the opening of each pāda ; and finally
20-399: Is found, namely: Two rules that apply in every śloka are: Quatrain A quatrain is a type of stanza , or a complete poem , consisting of four lines . Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia , Ancient India , Ancient Greece , Ancient Rome , and China , and continues into
30-458: The 21st century, where it is seen in works published in many languages. This form of poetry has been continually popular in Iran since the medieval period, as Ruba'is form; an important faction of the vast repertoire of Persian poetry, with famous poets such as Omar Khayyam and Mahsati Ganjavi of Seljuk Persia writing poetry only in this format. Michel de Nostredame ( Nostradamus ) used
40-474: The Indian verse par excellence , occurring, as it does, far more frequently than any other metre in classical Sanskrit poetry. By the 5th century CE, in the poetry of Kalidasa , the śloka had the restricted form shown in the table above. Each half-verse of 16 syllables can take either a pathyā ("normal") form or one of several vipulā ("extended") forms. The pathyā and vipulā half-verses are arranged in
50-509: The development of the "epic anuṣṭubh" (mostly in the Atharvaveda ) prefiguring the classical śloka form. Although in these hymns the iambic cadence of the first verse is still the most frequent (25%) of all varieties, it is already very nearly equalled (23%) by the normal and characteristic cadence of the first verse in the epic anuṣṭhubh ( śloka ), where the iambic cadence in the first verse has entirely disappeared. It has been shown that
60-509: The percentage of long (or heavy) syllables in 8-syllable lines in the Rigveda as a whole in each position is as follows: Thus the first half of the line tends to be iambic, while the second half is almost always iambic. In those lines where the 2nd syllable is short, the third syllable is almost always long. In classical Sanskrit the anuṣṭubh developed into its specific epic form known as śloka , as described above, which may be considered
70-448: The quatrain form to deliver his famous " prophecies " in the 16th century. There are fifteen possible rhyme schemes , but the most traditional and common are ABAA , AAAA , ABAB , and ABBA . An example can be found in the following of Thomas Gray 's " Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard ". The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea, The plowman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves
80-458: The table above in order of frequency of occurrence. The most common is the pathyā . Out of 2579 half-verses taken from Kalidasa , Bharavi , Magha , and Bilhana , each of the four admissible forms of shloka in this order claims the following share: 2289, 116, 89, 85; that is, 89% of the half-verses have the regular pathyā form. In earlier epic, such as the Mahabharata , a fourth vipula
90-625: The world to darkness and to me. An example can be found in Robert Burns , " A Red, Red Rose ". O, my luve’s like a red, red rose, That's newly sprung in June; O, my luve’s like the melodie That's sweetly played in tune. An example can be found in Alfred Lord Tennyson 's " In Memoriam A.H.H. ". So word by word, and line by line, The dead man touch’d me from the past, And all at once it seem’d at last The living soul
100-685: Was flash’d on mine. An example can be found in William Blake 's " The Tyger ". (These are the first and last stanzas of the poem) Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? ... Tyger Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry An example can be found in “ La Belle Dame sans Merci ” by John Keats . I saw pale kings and princes too, Pale warriors, death-pale were they all; They cried—‘La Belle Dame sans Merci Thee hath in thrall!’ Come, fill
#747252