Iambic trimeter

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Iambic trimeter

Iambic trimeter is a meter

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....
consisting of three iamb

Iamb

An iamb or iambus is a metrical foot used in various types of poetry. Originally the term referred to one of the feet of the quantitative meter of classical Greek prosody : a short syllable followed by a long syllable ....
ic units per line.

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....
, iambic trimeter was a quantitative meter in which a line consisted of three iambic metra; and each metron consisted of two iambi. It was found in the spoken verses of tragedy and comedy.

In the accentual-syllabic verse

Accentual-syllabic verse

Accentual-syllabic verse is an extension of accentual verse which fixes both the number of stresses and syllables within a line or stanza. Accentual-syllabic verse is highly regular and therefore easily scannable....
of English, German, and other languages, iambic trimeter is a meter consisting of three iambs (disyllabic units with rising stress) per line.

Basic form
The iambic trimeter derives its name from its essential shape (a triangle), which is three metrical units (hence "trimeter") which are each basically iambic in form.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Iambic trimeter'

Start a new discussion about 'Iambic trimeter'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Iambic trimeter is a meter

Meter (poetry)

Iamb

Ancient Greek

Accentual-syllabic verse

Greek

Basic form

The iambic trimeter derives its name from its essential shape (a triangle), which is three metrical units (hence "trimeter") which are each basically iambic in form. The iambic metron has the following shape (where the x is 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....
, the - is a longum, and the u is a brevis

Syllable weight

In linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segment s in the syllable rime....
):

x - u -

The long-short-long structure is known as a cretic

Cretic

Cretic or amphimacer foot are a unit of prosody that contain three syllables, metrically long, short, long. In Greek poetry, the amphimacer was usually a form of paeon or aeolic verse....
, so the basic metrical unit of the iambic trimeter may be said to be the following: anceps-cretic. The trimeter simply repeats this structure three times, with the resulting shape as follows:

x - u - x - u - x - u -

Note that, as always, the final syllable can observe the phenomenon of brevis in longo

Brevis in longo

In Greek and Latin Meter , a syllable weight at the end of a line can be counted as long; this phenomenon is known as brevis in longo.The term comes from Latin, and means "a short [syllable] in place of a long [syllable]." Brevis in longo is possible in any classical meter that requires a long syllable at the end of a line, includin...
, so it may actually be short or long.

A straightforward example of the structure:

u - u - - - u - - - u -

(Euripides, Hippolytus 1053)

Caesura and Bridge

A caesura

Caesura

In Meter , caesura is a term to denote an audible pause that breaks up a line of Poetry. In most cases, caesura is indicated by punctuation marks which cause a pause in speech: a comma, a semicolon, a full stop, a dash, etc....
is usually found after the fifth or seventh element of the line, or, in other words, after the second anceps or the brevis of the second cretic. In the example above, it is found after the fifth element, as so (with || representing the caesura):

u - u - - || - u - u - u -

Finally, Porson's Law

Porson's Law

Porson's Law is a meter concerning a "bridge" in Ancient Greek iambic trimeters, the most common dialogue-meter in Theatre of ancient Greece. In its most general form it states that, in anceps-cretic or cretic-anceps meters, such as the iambic trimeter, no word-break may follow a long anceps, except in the case of a main caesura....
is observed, which means here that if the first or third anceps is long, there cannot be a word-break after that anceps. The second anceps is free from this constraint, because a word-break at that point would be a main caesura.

Resolution and Substitution

The trimeter also observes the phenomena of resolution

Resolution (meter)

Resolution is the meter phenomenon in classical poetry of replacing a longum with two brevis. It is generally found in Greek lyric poetry and in ancient Greece and Ancient Rome drama, most frequently in comedy....
and substitution, allowing a greater variety of possibilities. In tragedy, resolution is fairly uncommon, and substitution occurs almost exclusively to accommodate personal names that otherwise could not fit the meter. In comedy, which is closer to casual speech, resolution and substitution are fairly common.

In both tragedy and comedy, though, the third metron is usually left alone; resolution and substitution in the final metron of the line is rare. Also, in tragedy, resolution and substitution are virtually never consecutive, and two instances of either in the same line is extremely rare. Finally, as usual, when resolution or substitution occurs, the two shorts standing in place of a long, an anceps, or one short are almost always within the same word-unit.

Accentual-syllabic iambic trimeter

In English similar accentual-syllabic metrical systems, a line of iambic trimeter consists of three iambic feet. The resulting six-syllable line is very short, and few poems are written entirely in this meter.

The 1948 poem "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke

Theodore Roethke

Theodore Huebner Roethke was an American poet, who published several volumes of poetry characterized by its rhythm and natural . He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book, The Waking....
uses the trimeter:

...We romped until the pans

Slid from the kitchen shelf;

My mother's countenance

Could not unfrown itself.

William Blake

William Blake was an English people English poetry, Painting, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both poetry and the visual arts of the Romanticism....
's "Song ('I Love the Jocund Dance')" (1783) uses a loose iambic trimeter that sometimes incorporates additional weak syllables:

I love the jocund dance,

The softly breathing song,

Where innocent eyes do glance,

And where lisps the maiden's tongue.

I love the laughing gale,

I love the echoing hill,

Where mirth does never fail,

And the jolly swain laughs his fill.

As a component of common meter

The English iambic trimeter is much more frequently encountered as one-half of the common meter, which consists of alternating iambic tetrameter

Iambic tetrameter

Iambic tetrameter is a meter in poetry. It refers to a line consisting of four iamb foot . The word "tetrameter" simply means that there are four feet in the line; iambic tetrameter is a line comprising four iambs....
and trimeter lines:

To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,

All pray in their distress:

And to these virtues of delight

Return their thankfulness.

William Blake, "The Divine Image," Songs of Innocence, 1789

Iambic trimeter

Greek

Basic form

Caesura and Bridge

Resolution and Substitution

Accentual-syllabic iambic trimeter

As a component of common meter

External links