Foot (prosody)

Metrical feet and accents
Disyllables
˘ ˘	pyrrhic, dibrach
˘ ¯	iamb
¯ ˘	trochee, choree
¯ ¯	spondee
Trisyllables
˘ ˘ ˘	tribrach
¯ ˘ ˘	dactyl
˘ ¯ ˘	amphibrach
˘ ˘ ¯	anapaest, antidactylus
˘ ¯ ¯	bacchius
¯ ¯ ˘	antibacchius
¯ ˘ ¯	cretic, amphimacer
¯ ¯ ¯	molossus
	See main article for tetrasyllables.
	v; t; ;

The foot is the basic repeating rhythmic unit that forms part of a line of verse in most Indo-European traditions of poetry, including English accentual-syllabic verse and the quantitative meter of classical ancient Greek and Latin poetry. The unit is composed of syllables, and is usually two, three, or four syllables in length. The most common feet in English are the iamb, trochee, dactyl, and anapest.^[1] The foot might be compared to a bar, or a beat divided into pulse groups, in musical notation.

The English word "foot" is a translation of the Latin term pes, plural pedes, which in turn is a translation of the Ancient Greek ποῦς, pl. πόδες. The Ancient Greek prosodists, who invented this terminology, specified that a foot must have both an arsis and a thesis,^[2] that is, a place where the foot was raised ("arsis") and where it was put down ("thesis") in beating time or in marching or dancing. The Greeks recognised three basic types of feet, the iambic (where the ratio of arsis to thesis was 1:2), the dactylic (where it was 2:2) and the paeonic (where it was 3:2).^[3]

Lines of verse are classified according to the number of feet they contain, e.g. pentameter. However some lines of verse are not considered to be made up of feet, e.g. hendecasyllable.

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.

Classical meter[]

Below listed are the names given to the poetic feet by classical metrics. The feet are classified first by the number of syllables in the foot (disyllables have two, trisyllables three, and tetrasyllables four) and secondarily by the pattern of vowel lengths (in classical languages) or syllable stresses (in English poetry) which they comprise.

The following lists describe the feet in terms of vowel length (as in classical languages). Translated into syllable stresses (as in English poetry), "long" becomes "stressed" ("accented"), and "short" becomes "unstressed" ("unaccented"). For example, an iamb, which is short-long in classical meter, becomes unstressed-stressed, as in the English word "alone".^[4]

Disyllables[]

Macron and breve notation: = stressed/long syllable, = unstressed/short syllable

		pyrrhus, dibrach
		iamb (or iambus or jambus)
		trochee, choree (or choreus)
		spondee

Trisyllables[]

			tribrach
			dactyl
			amphibrach
			anapest, antidactylus
			bacchius
			cretic, amphimacer
			antibacchius
			molossus

Tetrasyllables[]

				tetrabrach, proceleusmatic

				primus paeon
				secundus paeon
				tertius paeon
				quartus paeon

				major ionic, double trochee
				minor ionic, double iamb
				ditrochee
				diiamb

				choriamb
				antispast

				first epitrite
				second epitrite
				third epitrite
				fourth epitrite

				dispondee

References[]

^ Baldick, Chris (2008). The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-923891-0.
^ Pearson, Lionel (1990) Aristoxenes: Elementa Rhythmica (Oxford), p. 29.
^ Pearson, Lionel (1990) Aristoxenes: Elementa Rhythmica (Oxford), pp. 25, 27.
^ Howatson, M. C., ed. (1976). The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866121-5.

External links[]

[1] Baldick, Chris (2008). The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-923891-0.

[2] Pearson, Lionel (1990) Aristoxenes: Elementa Rhythmica (Oxford), p. 29.

[3] Pearson, Lionel (1990) Aristoxenes: Elementa Rhythmica (Oxford), pp. 25, 27.

[4] Howatson, M. C., ed. (1976). The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866121-5.

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show v t Suprasegmentals
Timing	Syllable Mora Metrical foot Vowel reduction
Tone	Tone contour Pitch accent Register Downstep Upstep Downdrift Tone terracing Floating tone Tone sandhi Tone letter
Stress	Secondary stress Vowel reduction Accent
Length	Chroneme Gemination Vowel length Extra-shortness
Prosody	Intonation (pitch) Pitch contour Pitch reset Stress Rhythm Loudness Prosodic unit Pausa

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Rhymes	Alliteration Assonance Broken rhyme Consonance Forced/Oblique Half rhyme Holorime Imperfect/Near Internal rhyme Off-centered rhyme Monorhyme Pararhyme Perfect rhyme Rhyme scheme Semirhyme Syllabic Weak/Unaccented

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