Many either ignore meter, missing the poet's art by reading the poetry as if it were prose, or obsess over it. Greek poetic meter, with its focus on length rather than stress confuses us English speakers, especially because we apply different names for the same thing, use concepts that need to be learned sequentially, and compile terms on long reference lists like the ones below that may incline perfectionists to learn them by heart. Warning: You may never see many of the terms again. Don't take this as an excuse for failing to learn anything about meter: this page just doesn't tell you which metrical concepts you need to commit to memory.
I recommend that you read different writers on the topic of metrics to try to find the clearest explanations for all the little bits that work together. For starters, try pre-socratic philosophy scholar D.S. Raven's 1962 Greek Metre or the references cited in the lists below. Remember, there are different names for the same thing.
This page provides reference lists of many of the terms used in prosody, the study of Greek poetry, to describe the meter of a given line. It does not include many of the important elements about pronunciation, like how the phrasing breaks up by means of diaresis and caesura or the stress [ictus]; nor does it show how to determine whether a syllable is long or short [see How do you scan a line of Latin poetry?]. It is a list of terms with minimal explanation.
The following information on classical metrics comes mainly from the nineteenth century Greek Prosody, by George Dunbar. For quick reference, visual representations of the metrical patterns are shown in yellow.
Basic Units of Meter
Morae
The basic unit of metrics is called the tempus 'time' or mora. The term mora is used almost identically in Linguistics. One short syllable takes one mora of time to pronounce. A long syllable takes two.
Feet
Feet may be simple or compound. If simple, a foot consists of two or three syllables. Each of these syllables may be made up of one or two morae. If compound, a foot has four syllables.
Types of Feet
I. Simple
A. Feet of 2 Syllables
Code:˘means a short syllable and¯means a long one
1. Pyrrhic: short, short (2 morae)
˘ ˘2. Spondee: long, long (4 morae)
¯ ¯3. Iamb: short, long (3 morae)
˘ ¯4. Trochee: long, short (3 morae)
¯ ˘
B. Feet of 3 Syllables
1. Tribrach: short, short, short
˘ ˘ ˘2. Dactyl: long, short, short
¯ ˘ ˘3. Anapest: short, short, long
˘ ˘ ¯4. Molossus: long, long, long
¯ ¯ ¯5. Amphibrach: short, long, short
˘ ¯ ˘6. Amphimacer (Cretic [there are a variety of names for other terms, as well]): long, short, long
¯ ˘ ¯7. Bacchius: short, long, long
˘ ¯ ¯8. Antibacchius: long, long, short
¯ ¯ ˘
II. Compound:
Feet of 4 Syllables
1. Choriamb: composed of a trochee and an iamb - long, short, short, long
¯ ˘ ˘ ¯2. Antipastus: composed of an iamb and a trochee - short, long, long, short
˘ ¯ ¯ ˘3. Ionic a majore: composed of a spondee and a pyrrhic - long, long, short, short
¯ ¯ ˘ ˘4. Ionic a minore: composed of a pyrrhic and a spondee - short, short, long, long
˘ ˘ ¯ ¯5. Paeon primus: composed of a trochee and a pyrrhic - long, short, short, short
¯ ˘ ˘ ˘6. Paeon secundus: composed of an iamb and a pyrrhic - short, long, short, short
˘ ¯ ˘ ˘7. Paeon tertius: composed of a pyrrhic and a trochee - short, short, long, short
˘ ˘ ¯ ˘8. Paeon quartus: composed of a pyrrhic and an iamb - short, short, short, long
˘ ˘ ˘ ¯There are 8 more variations that aren't common:
9. Epitritus primus
10. Epitritus secundus
11. Epitritus tertius
12. Epitritus quartus
13. Proceleusmatic
14. Dispondaic
15. Diiambic
16. Ditrochaic
Meter
Building on the feet shown above, the next larger unit of metrics is the meter (metre), which Dunbar describes as
(1) "an arrangement of syllables and feet in verse, according to certain rules."
(2) A combination of two feet.
(3) Sometimes meter consists of just one foot.
Terms for Meter
- Monometer: one meter
- Dimeter: two meters
- Trimeter: 3 meters
- Tetrameter: 4 meters
- Pentameter: 5 meters
- Hexameter: 6 meters
- Heptameter: 7 meters
N.B.: These terms go together with the name of the meter's type and the word describing its regularity.
Types of Meter
The dominant type of foot can give its name to the type of meter, so a verse in a passage that is composed of iambic feet would be called iambic. This is the first of the following nine usual meters, with the major ones in bold:
1. Iambic
2. Trochaic
3. Anapestic
4. Dactylic
5. Choriambic
6. Antipastic
7. Ionic a majore
8. Ionic a minore
9. Paeonic
Regularity of the Verse
Verse: A line of poetry is a verse. A verse consists of a selected number of feet.
Sometimes a syllable or foot is missing at the end of the line. If this seems odd, think of a rest in music or how many times you had to ask someone to repeat what he said because he pronounced the final word(s) inaudibly. Sometimes syllables are added.
1. Acatalectic - The feet are all there with nothing added.
2. Catalectic - The line is missing its final syllable
3. Brachycatalectic - The line is missing the final foot
4. Hypercatalectic - The line has an extra syllable or two at the end.
These act like combining forms: As you'll see under the iambic metrical section below, these four terms for regularity or irregularity of the verse can be combined with the meters to form the meter's name.
Besides the "combining forms" there are substitutions that may make a line more or less regular. A line of verse may not have exactly the same number of syllables as one might expect from the name of the type. Again, the section below on the iambic meters shows some of these standards and deviations.
Iambic Meters
Iambic Trimeter
A line of Iambic Trimeter has 6 iambic feet. Note that this uses Dunbar's definition of meter as a combination of 2 feet, since trimeter suggests 3, not the 6 feet that are present. Within these 6 iambic feet, only the last must be an iamb (˘¯). The other feet can regularly be tribrachs (˘ ˘ ˘) or iambs, each of which has 3 morae. Sometimes instead of iambs, there are spondees (¯ ¯). Remember from above that poetry may be named for the dominant meter of the passage, so it's still a line of iambic trimeter even if a foot is a spondee.
Two of the possibilities for a line of iambic trimeter (where / divides the feet):
˘¯ /˘¯ /˘¯ /˘¯ /˘¯ /˘¯
˘˘˘/˘˘˘/˘˘˘/˘˘˘/˘˘˘/˘¯
Other Iambic Meters
The Saturnian meter can be considered a variation on the iambic trimeter, and as such, may also be called iambic trimeter hypermeter, so it has an extra syllable. Here is a possible line: ¯ ¯ / ˘ ¯/ ˘ ¯/ ˘ ¯/ ˘ ¯/ ˘ ¯/ ¯.
Scazon, Choliambus, and Lame Iambic are names for Iambic Trimeter with a spondee in the sixth foot, with usually an iamb in the fifth and a dactyl in the fourth.
Iambic Trimeter Acephalus (Archilochian): is a normal Iambic Trimeter minus its first syllable.
Iambic Trimeter Catalectic: is the normal without its final syllable.
[Source for the following on the Iambic meters: Latin Prosody Made Easy, by John Carey]
Iambic Tetrameter/Iambic Quadratus (Octanarius):
Variation:
- Iambic Tetrameter Catalectic (Hipponactic): -- missing the final syllable
Iambic Dimeter (Archilochian):
Variations:
- Iambic Dimeter Hypermeter (also called Archilochian or Pindaric) -- with extra syllable at the end
- Iambic Dimeter Acephalous -- missing the first syllable
- Iambic Dimeter Catalectic (also called Anacreontic and Dimeter Claudus) - missing the final syllable
- Galliambus: a catalectic iambic dimeter beginning with spondee or anapest and ending with a long syllable plus another catalectic dimeter (e.g.,
¯ ¯/˘ ¯/˘ ¯/ ¯/¯ ¯/˘ ¯/˘ ¯/)
Types of Verse
Listed above were verses named for the dominant type of foot. There are other types of verses, those named for the number of feet and those named for the first or major poet who used the type of meter. Rudiments of the Latin Tongue lists the following different types of poetic verse:
- Hexameter aka Heroic: consisting of 6 spondaic or dactylic feet, with the fifth a dactyl (or spondee) and the final one a spondee. There are somewhere between 13 and 17 syllables in each line.
- Pentameter: has 5 feet of which the first two are dactyls or spondees, the third is a spondee, and the fourth and fifth are anapests.
- Asclepiadean: four feet - spondee, choriamb, choriamb, pyrrhic
- Glyconian: three feet - spondee, choriamb, pyrrhic
- Sapphic: five feet - trochee, spondee, dactyl, trochee, trochee
- Adonian: dactyl, spondee
- Pherecratian: three feet - spondee, dactyl, spondee
- Phaleucean: five feet - spondee, dactyl, trochee, trochee, trochee
- Greater Alcaic: four feet - spondee/iamb, iamb, dactyl, dactyl
- Archilochian: four feet - spondee/iamb, iamb, spondee/iamb, iamb
-
Lesser Alcaic: four feet - dactyl, dactyl, trochee, trochee
and others....
