Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In some kinds of metre, such as the Greek iambic trimeter, two feet are combined into a larger unit called a metron (pl. metra) or dipody. The foot is a purely metrical unit; there is no inherent relation to a word or phrase as a unit of meaning or syntax, though the interplay between these is an aspect of the poet's skill and artistry.
Trochaic tetrameter in Macbeth. In poetic metre, a trochee (/ ˈ t r oʊ k iː /) is a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one, in qualitative meter, as found in English, and in modern linguistics; or in quantitative meter, as found in Latin and Ancient Greek, a heavy syllable followed by a light one (also described as a long syllable followed by a short ...
In strict dactylic hexameter, each foot would be a dactyl (a long and two short syllables, i.e. – u u), but classical meter allows for the substitution of a spondee (two long syllables, i.e. – –) in place of a dactyl in most positions. Specifically, the first four feet can either be dactyls or spondees more or less freely.
In English meter indisputable examples are harder to find because metrical feet are identified by stress, and stress is a matter of interpretation. [ 6 ] For example, the first part of this line from Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida (in iambic pentameter ) would normally be interpreted as two spondees:
In classical hexameter, the six feet follow these rules: A foot can be made up of two long syllables (– –), a spondee; or a long and two short syllables, a dactyl (– υ υ). The first four feet can contain either one of them. The fifth is almost always a dactyl, and last must be a spondee/trochee (together forming an adonic). Exceptions ...
The most frequently encountered metre of English verse is the iambic pentameter, in which the metrical norm is five iambic feet per line, though metrical substitution is common and rhythmic variations are practically inexhaustible. John Milton's Paradise Lost, most sonnets, and much else besides in English are written in iambic pentameter.
("x" is a syllable that can be long or short, "–" is a long syllable, and "u" is a short one.) In modern English poetry, it refers to a line consisting of four iambic feet. The word "tetrameter" simply means that there are four feet in the line; iambic tetrameter is a line comprising four iambs, defined by accent. The scheme is thus:
A tribrach is a metrical foot used in formal poetry and Greek and Latin verse.In quantitative meter (such as the meter of classical verse), it consists of three short syllables occupying a foot, replacing either an iamb (u –) or a trochee (– u). [1]