The classical hendecasyllable is a quantitative meter used in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Roughly three centuries after the L…
Catullus
Gaius Valerius Catullus was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, which is about personal life rather than classical heroes. His surviving works are still read widely and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.
Full Answer
What is a hendecasyllable meter?
Trochaic meters are less forgiving as far as variant feet go and if only for this reason, Frost departs from the hendecasyllabic meter only once. It’s probably the most metrically conservative poem Frost wrote after his first book of poetry.
What is a hendecasyllabic line?
Hendecasyllabic. A Classical Greek and Latin metrical line consisting of 11 syllables: typically a spondee or trochee, a choriamb, and two iambs, the second of which has an additional syllable at the end. The classical Latin poet Catullus favored the line. It is seldom used in English, although Algernon Charles Swinburne worked with the meter ...
What is a hendecasyllable poem?
The verse is quantitative, usually hendecasyllabic, employing 11 syllables and often includes an anceps, a quantitative metric foot that includes a syllable that could be interpreted either long or short. The meter helped set a tranquil or contemplative tone. Aeolic poetry.
What is the Polish hendecasyllable?
Another form of hendecasyllabic verse is the "Sapphic" (so named for its use in the Sapphic stanza), with the pattern: - x - x - u u - u - - Of the polymetric poems of Catullus, forty-three are hendecasyllabic. The metre has been imitated in English; the most important examples are by Alfred Tennyson and Swinburne and Robert Frost, cf. "For ...
What does hendecasyllabic?
Definition of hendecasyllabic : consisting of 11 syllables or composed of verses of 11 syllables.
What is it called when a line has 11 syllables?
A Classical Greek and Latin metrical line consisting of 11 syllables: typically a spondee or trochee, a choriamb, and two iambs, the second of which has an additional syllable at the end. The classical Latin poet Catullus favored the line.
Does iambic pentameter have 11 syllables?
A given line may have 9 , 11 or even 12 syllables instead of 10. And variations in Iambic Pentameter can extend even further. Shakespeare will sometimes intersperse the overall 10 syllable pattern with 6 syllable lines – called squinting lines (a term coined by George Wright).
What meter does Catullus write?
Sapphic meterThese avant-garde poets drew inspiration from earlier Greek authors, especially Sappho and Callimachus; Catullus himself used Sapphic meter in two poems, Catullus 11 and 51, the second of which is almost a translation.
What is a 12 syllable word?
every day of the week and twice on Sundays. antidisestablishmentarianism. floccinaucinihilipilificatious. laryngotracheobronchopneumonitis.
What is a 12 line stanza called?
A 12-line poem is considered a Rondeau Prime, a form of French poetry, though it usually consists of a septet (7 lines) plus a cinquain (5 lines).
How many syllables is iamb?
Wondering why iamb is 2 syllables? Contact Us! We'll explain.
What is it called when a poem has 9 syllables per line?
A nonet is a nine-line poem. In the nonet form, each line contains specific, descending syllable counts. The first line contains nine syllables, the second line contains eight, the third line contains seven, and so on. The last line of nonet poetry contains one syllable.
Is iambic pentameter just 10 syllables?
Putting these two terms together, iambic pentameter is a line of writing that consists of ten syllables in a specific pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, or a short syllable followed by a long syllable.
What is the meter of epic poetry?
Dactylic hexameter (also known as "heroic hexameter" and "the meter of epic") is a form of meter or rhythmic scheme frequently used in Ancient Greek and Latin poetry.
What happened to Catullus?
The unembroidered, certain facts are scanty. Catullus was alive 55–54 bce on the evidence of four of his poems and died young according to the poet Ovid—at the age of 30 as stated by St. Jerome (writing about the end of the 4th century), who nevertheless dated his life erroneously 87–57 bce.
Is Catullus a man?
84 – c. 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (kə-TUL-əs), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His surviving works are still read widely and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.
What is an 11 line stanza called?
Tanka A Japanese poem of five lines, the first and third composed of five syllables and the other seven. Terza Rima A type of poetry consisting of 10 or 11 syllable lines arranged in three-line tercets.
Can a sonnet line have 11 syllables?
3. Its lines don't have to have ten syllables. Shakespeare's Sonnet XX, because of the feminine endings, has 11 syllables per line all the way through.
Can a sonnet have more than 10 syllables in a line?
This means that you only need to find two words for each rhyme. Each line is in iambic pentameter, which means there are usually ten syllables and five “beats” (stressed syllables) per line.
What is a 14-line stanza called?
Sonnet. A 14-line poem with a variable rhyme scheme originating in Italy and brought to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, earl of Surrey in the 16th century.
Aeolic Verse refers to meters commonly used in the lyrical works of Sappho and Alcaeus. Aeolis was the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor which included most of the Greek city-states and the Island of Lesbos in the 8th to 6th centuries BC, the Greek Dark Ages. Four classic meters are known from that culture, the Alcaic Stanza, the Sapphic Stanza, Glyconics (the basic form of Aeolics) and Hendecasyllabic Verse. The verse is quantitative, usually hendecasyllabic, employing 11 syllables and often includes an anceps, a quantitative metric foot that includes a syllable that could be interpreted either long or short. The meter helped set a tranquil or contemplative tone. Aeolic poetry
Aeolic Verse refers to meters commonly used in the lyrical works of Sappho and Alcaeus. Aeolis was the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor which included most of the Greek city-states and the Island of Lesbos in the 8th to 6th centuries BC, the Greek Dark Ages.
Loose Sapphic
There are variations of the Sapphic Stanza and I have chosen the Loose Sapphic form created by Marie Marshall. The form is composed over four lines, the first three being hendecasyllabic and the fourth being pentasyllabic.
What is the meaning of the hendecasyllable?
The hendecasyllable (in Italian endecasillabo) is also used in Italian poetry. It has a historical role in Italian poetry, and a formal structure, comparable to that of iambic pentameter in English or the alexandrine in French.
How many syllables are in a classical hendecasyllable?
The classical hendecasyllable is a quantitative meter used in Ancient Greece in Aeolic verse and in scolia, and later by the Roman poet Catullus. Each line has eleven syllables; hence the name, which comes from the Greek word for eleven. The heart of the line is the choriamb (- u u -). The pattern (also known as the Phalaecian) is as follows (using "-" for a long syllable, "u" for a short and "x" for an " anceps " or variable syllable):
What is Catullus 5 about?
Catullus 5. Catullus 5 is a passionate ode to Lesbia and one of the most famous poems by Catullus. The poem encourages lovers to scorn the snide comments of others, and to live only for each other, since life is brief and death brings a night of perpetual sleep. This poem has been translated and imitated many times.
Who wrote the song "Let us live and love"?
In 1601, the English composer, poet and physician Thomas Campion wrote this rhyming free translation of the first half (to which he added two verses of his own, and music, to create a lute song): My sweetest Lesbia, let us live and love; And though the sager sort our deeds reprove, Let us not weigh them.
Overview
In classical poetry
The classical hendecasyllable is a quantitative meter used in Ancient Greece in Aeolic verse and in scolia, and later by the Roman poets Catullus and Martial. Each line has eleven syllables; hence the name, which comes from the Greek word for eleven. The heart of the line is the choriamb (– ⏑ ⏑ –). There are three different versions.
The pattern of the “Phalaecian” (Latin: hendecasyllabus phalaecius) is as follows (using “–” for …
In Italian poetry
The hendecasyllable (Italian: endecasillabo) is the principal metre in Italian poetry. Its defining feature is a constant stress on the tenth syllable, so that the number of syllables in the verse may vary, equaling eleven in the usual case where the final word is stressed on the penultimate syllable. The verse also has a stress preceding the caesura, on either the fourth or sixth syllable. The first case is called endecasillabo a minore, or lesser hendecasyllable, and has the first hemis…
In Polish poetry
The hendecasyllabic metre (Polish: jedenastozgłoskowiec) was very popular in Polish poetry, especially in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, owing to strong Italian literary influence. It was used by Jan Kochanowski, Piotr Kochanowski (who translated Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso), Sebastian Grabowiecki, Wespazjan Kochowski and Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski. The greatest Polish Romantic poet, Adam Mickiewicz, set his poem [[Grażyna]] in this measure. The …
In Portuguese poetry
The hendecasyllable (Portuguese: hendecassílabo) is a common meter in Portuguese poetry. The best-known Portuguese poem composed in hendecasyllables is Luís de Camões' Lusiads, which begins as follows:
As armas e os barões assinalados, Que da ocidental praia Lusitana, Por mares nunca de antes navegados, Passaram ainda além da Taprobana, Em perigos e guerras esforçados, Mais do que …
In Spanish poetry
The hendecasyllable (endecasílabo) is less pervasive in Spanish poetry than in Italian or Portuguese, but it is commonly used with Italianate verse forms like sonnets and ottava rima. An example of the latter is Alonso de Ercilla's epic La Araucana, which opens as follows:
No las damas, amor, no gentilezas de caballeros canto enamorados, ni las muestras, regalos y ternezas de amorosos afectos y cuidados; mas el valor, los hechos, las proezas de aquellos esp…
In English poetry
The term "hendecasyllable" is sometimes used to describe a line of iambic pentameter with a feminine ending, as in the first line of John Keats's Endymion: "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever."
See also
• hexasyllable
• octosyllable
• decasyllable
• dodecasyllable
• iambic pentameter