Dactylic tetrameter
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Disyllables | |
---|---|
˘ ˘ | pyrrhic, dibrach |
˘ ¯ | iamb |
¯ ˘ | trochee, choree |
¯ ¯ | spondee |
Trisyllables | |
˘ ˘ ˘ | tribrach |
¯ ˘ ˘ | dactyl |
˘ ¯ ˘ | amphibrach |
˘ ˘ ¯ | anapaest, antidactylus |
˘ ¯ ¯ | bacchius |
¯ ¯ ˘ | antibacchius |
¯ ˘ ¯ | cretic, amphimacer |
¯ ¯ ¯ | molossus |
See main article for tetrasyllables. | |
Dactylic tetrameter is a metre in poetry. It refers to a line consisting of four dactylic feet. "Tetrameter" simply means four poetic feet. Each foot has a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables, the opposite of an anapest, sometimes called antidactylus to reflect this fact.
Example[]
A dactylic foot is one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones:
DUM | da | da |
A dactylic tetrameter would therefore be:
DUM | da | da | DUM | da | da | DUM | da | da | DUM | da | da |
Scanning this using an "x" to represent an unstressed syllable and a "/" to represent a stressed syllable would make a dactylic tetrameter like the following:
/ | x | x | / | x | x | / | x | x | / | x | x |
The following lines from The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" demonstrate this, the scansion being:
/ | x | x | / | x | x | / | x | x | / | x | x |
Pic- | ture | your- | self | in | a | boat | on | a | riv- | er | with |
/ | x | x | / | x | x | / | x | x | / | x | x |
tan- | ger- | ine | tree- | ees | and | marm- | a- | lade | skii- | ii- | es |
Another example, from Browning:
/ | x | x | / | x | x | / | x | x | / | x |
Just | for | a | hand- | ful | of | sil- | ver | he | left | us! |
See also[]
- Dactyl (poetry)
- Tetrameter
- Alcmanian verse, for the dactylic tetrameter in Greek and Latin poetry
Categories:
- Types of verses