List of classical meters
Encyclopedia
The following meters
were used in Greek poetry
and adapted for Latin poetry
:
Aeolics
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...
were used in Greek poetry
Ancient Greek literature
Ancient Greek literature refers to literature written in the Ancient Greek language until the 4th century.- Classical and Pre-Classical Antiquity :...
and adapted for Latin poetry
Latin literature
Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings of the ancient Romans. In many ways, it seems to be a continuation of Greek literature, using many of the same forms...
:
Major forms
- Dactylic hexameterDactylic hexameterDactylic hexameter is a form of meter in poetry or a rhythmic scheme. It is traditionally associated with the quantitative meter of classical epic poetry in both Greek and Latin, and was consequently considered to be the Grand Style of classical poetry...
, the meter of the IliadIliadThe Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
, OdysseyOdysseyThe Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
and AeneidAeneidThe Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...
, used for epic and other narrative and didactic poetry - Elegiac coupletElegiac coupletThe elegiac couplet is a poetic form used by Greek lyric poets for a variety of themes usually of smaller scale than the epic. Roman poets, particularly Ovid, adopted the same form in Latin many years later...
, consisting of a line of dactylic hexameter and one of dactylic pentameterDactylic pentameterDactylic pentameter is a form of meter in poetry. It is normally found in the second line of the classical Latin or Greek elegiac couplet, following the first line of dactylic hexameter....
, employed by OvidOvidPublius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
for all his extant works except the Metamorphoses - Iambic trimeterIambic trimeteriambic trimeter is a meter of poetry consisting of three iambic units per line.In ancient Greek poetry, iambic trimeter is a quantitative meter, in which a line consisted of three iambic metra and each metron consisted of two iambi...
, the most common meter in the dialogue portions of tragedy and comedy
AeolicsAeolic verseAeolic 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...
- GlyconicGlyconicGlyconic, , describes a form of meter in classical Greek and Latin poetry. The glyconic line is the most basic form of Aeolic verse, and it is often combined with others....
and pherecratean - AsclepiadAsclepiad (poetry)An Asclepiad is a line of poetry following a particular metrical pattern. The form is attributed to Asclepiades of Samos and is one of the Aeolic metres....
- Sapphic stanzaSapphic stanzaThe Sapphic stanza, named after Sappho, is an Aeolic verse form spanning four lines ....
, so called for SapphoSapphoSappho 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... - Alcaic stanza, so called for AlcaeusAlcaeusAlcaeus may refer to:*Alcaeus , a writer of ten plays of the Old Comedy.*Alcaeus , one of several figures of this name in Greek mythology*12607 Alcaeus - a main belt asteroid...
- Hendecasyllabic verse
- Adonean
Other meters
- CholiambCholiambCholiambic verse is a form of meter in poetry. It is found in both Greek and Latin poetry in the classical period. Choliambic verse is sometimes called scazon, or "lame iambic", because it brings the reader down on the wrong "foot" by reversing the stresses of the last few beats...
ic, also known as limping iambs or scazon - IonicIonic meterThe ionic is a four-syllable metrical unit of light-light-heavy-heavy that occurs in ancient Greek and Latin poetry. Like the choriamb, in classical quantitative verse the ionic never appears in passages meant to be spoken rather than sung...
- Anacreonteus
- Anapestic
- Trochaic
- Dactylo-epitrite
- Dochmiac
- GalliambicGalliambicGalliambic metre is constructed as shown below:˘ ˘ – ˘ – ˘ – –// ˘ ˘ – ˘ ˘ ˘ ˘ ×This metre, meant for the frenzied cult of the eastern goddess Cybele, is best known from its use in Catullus 63...
, a relatively rare form of which Carmen 63 by CatullusCatullusGaius Valerius Catullus was a Latin poet of the Republican period. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.-Biography:...
is the only complete example from antiquity