The Alcaic stanza is a Greek

Greek literature

Greek literature refers to writings composed in areas of Greek influence, typically though not necessarily in one of the Greek dialects, throughout the whole period in which the Greek-speaking people have existed.-Ancient Greek literature :...

 lyrical

Lyric poetry

Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...

 meter

Meter (poetry)

In poetry, metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study of metres and forms of versification is known as prosody...

, an Aeolic verse

Aeolic verse

Aeolic verse is a classification of Ancient Greek lyric poetry referring to the distinct verse forms characteristic of the two great poets of Archaic Lesbos, Sappho and Alcaeus, who composed in their native Aeolic dialect...

 form traditionally believed to have been invented by Alcaeus, a lyric poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 from Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, about 600 BC. The Alcaic stanza and the Sapphic stanza

Sapphic stanza

The Sapphic stanza, named after Sappho, is an Aeolic verse form spanning four lines ....

 named for Alcaeus' contemporary, Sappho

Sappho

Sappho was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is known for certain about her life...

, are two important forms of Classical poetry.

In Sappho and Alcaeus' poetry

The Alcaic stanza as used by Sappho and Alcaeus has the scheme ( where ¯ is a longum

Syllable weight

In linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segments in the rime. In classical poetry, both Greek and Latin, distinctions of syllable weight were fundamental to the meter of the line....

, ˘ a breve

Syllable weight

In linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segments in the rime. In classical poetry, both Greek and Latin, distinctions of syllable weight were fundamental to the meter of the line....

, and × an anceps

Anceps

In Greek and Latin meter, an anceps syllable is a syllable in a metrical line which can be either short or long. An anceps syllable may be called "free" or "irrational" depending on the type of meter being discussed....

):

× ¯ ˘ ¯ × ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ||

× ¯ ˘ ¯ × ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ||

× ¯ ˘ ¯ × ¯ ˘ ¯ ¯ ||

¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ¯ |||

In Latin poetry

Latin poetry

The history of Latin poetry can be understood as the adaptation of Greek models. The verse comedies of Plautus are the earliest Latin literature that has survived, composed around 205-184 BC, yet the start of Latin literature is conventionally dated to the first performance of a play in verse by a...

One stanza

Stanza

In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...

 consists of four lines; the first two lines are divided into two parts by a caesura

Caesura

thumb|100px|An example of a caesura in modern western music notation.In meter, a caesura is a complete pause in a line of poetry or in a musical composition. The plural form of caesura is caesuras or caesurae...

 after the fifth syllable. The metrical pattern of an Alcaic stanza would look like this:

_ _ u _ _ : _ u u _ u _

_ _ u _ _ : _ u u _ u _

_ _ u _ _ _ u _ _

_ u u _ u u _ u _ _

(An "_" denotes a long syllable, "u" a short one, and ":" is the caesura.)
Horace

Horace

Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...

 used the Alcaic stanza in his Odes, as can be seen from this example :

 _   _   u _    _ :_ u u   _ u _

Antehac nefas, depromere Caecubum

 _  _  u _ _  : _   u u _ u_

cellis avitis, dum Capitolio

 _ _ u  _ _  _   u_ _

Regina dementis ruinas

 _ u  u  _  u u_  u _ _

funus et Imperio parabat.

An English translation, which still fits the metre, is :

 _ _   u   _      _  : _  u u   _   u  _

Prior to this, 'twas | irreligious to waste

 _    _ u _   _   :   _      u    u  _ u _

Old Caecuban wine | whilst, for the Capitol

 _   _u _  _    _     u   _    _

Mad ruination plots the Queen, and

_ u  u  _ u u   _   u  _  _

Even a funeral for the Empire.

The Alcaic stanza was adapted to use in English and French during the Renaissance. It was historically an important form in Hungarian poetry http://www.krater.hu/regi/uj/bemut/atlant3.pdfhttp://www.elib.hu/00400/00433/00433.pdfhttp://www.elib.hu/00400/00433/00433.pdf.