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Hendecasyllabic verse

 

 
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The hendecasyllabic verse is a quantitative
Quantitative

A quantitative attribute is one that exists in a range of magnitudes, and can therefore be measurement. Measurements of any particular quantitative property are expressed as a specific quantity, referred to as a Unit of measurement, multiplied by a number....
 metre
Meter (poetry)

In poetry, the meter is the basic rhythm of a verse . Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse meter, or a certain set of meters alternating in a particular order....
 used in Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
 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 Greece Lesbos, Sappho and Alcaeus of Mytilene, who composed in their native Aeolic dialect....
, in scolia, and later by the Roman poet Catullus
Catullus

Gaius Valerius Catullus was a Roman poet of the 1st century BC. His work remains widely studied, and continues to influence poetry and other forms of art....
. Each line has eleven syllables, hence the name. 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
Anceps

In Greek language 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....
" or variable syllable):

x x - u u - u - u - - (where x x is either - u or - - or u -)

Another form of hendecasyllabic verse is the "Sapphic" (so named for its use in the Sapphic stanza
Sapphic stanza

The Sapphic stanza, named after Sappho, is an Aeolic verse form spanning four lines .The form is two hendecasyllabic verses, and a third verse beginning the same way and continuing with five additional syllables ....
), with the pattern:

- x - x - u u - u - -

Of the polymetric poems of Catullus, forty-three are hendecasyllabic.






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The hendecasyllabic verse is a quantitative
Quantitative

A quantitative attribute is one that exists in a range of magnitudes, and can therefore be measurement. Measurements of any particular quantitative property are expressed as a specific quantity, referred to as a Unit of measurement, multiplied by a number....
 metre
Meter (poetry)

In poetry, the meter is the basic rhythm of a verse . Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse meter, or a certain set of meters alternating in a particular order....
 used in Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
 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 Greece Lesbos, Sappho and Alcaeus of Mytilene, who composed in their native Aeolic dialect....
, in scolia, and later by the Roman poet Catullus
Catullus

Gaius Valerius Catullus was a Roman poet of the 1st century BC. His work remains widely studied, and continues to influence poetry and other forms of art....
. Each line has eleven syllables, hence the name. 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
Anceps

In Greek language 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....
" or variable syllable):

x x - u u - u - u - - (where x x is either - u or - - or u -)

Another form of hendecasyllabic verse is the "Sapphic" (so named for its use in the Sapphic stanza
Sapphic stanza

The Sapphic stanza, named after Sappho, is an Aeolic verse form spanning four lines .The form is two hendecasyllabic verses, and a third verse beginning the same way and continuing with five additional syllables ....
), 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
Robert Frost

Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech....
, cf. "For Once Then Something." In English, the long/short pattern becomes a stress/unstress pattern, although Tennyson maintained the quantitative features of the metre:

O you chorus of indolent reviewers,
Irresponsible, indolent reviewers,
Look, I come to the test, a tiny poem
All composed in a metre of Catullus...


This form should not be confused with the Italian hendecasyllable
Hendecasyllable

Hendecasyllable Meter is a kind of verse used mostly in Italy poetry, defined by its having the last stress on the tenth syllable. When, as often happens, this stress falls on the penultimate syllable, the line has exactly eleven syllables ....
.

Example

Catullus 1
Catullus 1

Catullus 1 is traditionally arranged first among the poems of the Ancient Rome poet Catullus, though it was not necessarily the first poem that he wrote....