An anapaest (; also spelled anapæst or anapest, also called antidactylus) is a metrical foot used in formal

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

. In classical quantitative meters it consists of two short syllables followed by a

long Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...

one; in accentual stress meters it consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable. It may be seen as a reversed dactyl. This word comes from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, ''anápaistos'', literally "struck back" and in a poetic context "a dactyl reversed". Because of its length and the fact that it ends with a stressed syllable and so allows for strong rhymes, anapaest can produce a very rolling verse, and allows for long lines with a great deal of internal complexity. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2011)
/ref> Apart from their independent role, anapaests are sometimes used as substitutions in iambic verse. In strict

iambic pentameter Iambic pentameter ( ) is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in each line. Meter is measured in small groups of syllables called feet. "Iambi ...

, anapaests are rare, but they are found with some frequency in freer versions of the iambic line, such as the verse of Shakespeare's last plays, or the lyric poetry of the 19th century.

Examples

Trimeter

Here is an example from

William Cowper William Cowper ( ; – 25 April 1800) was an English poet and Anglican hymnwriter. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th-century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the Engli ...

's "Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk" (1782), composed in anapaestic

trimeter In poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addi ...

: :''I must finish my journey alone''

Tetrameter

An example of anapaestic tetrameter is the " A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement Clarke Moore (1823): :''Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house'' The following is from

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

's " The Destruction of Sennacherib": :''The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold'' :''And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold'' :''And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea'' :''When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.''

Hexameter

An even more complex example comes from Yeats's '' The Wanderings of Oisin'' (1889). He intersperses anapests and iambs, using six-foot lines (rather than four feet as above). Since the anapaest is already a long foot, this makes for very long lines. :''Fled foam underneath us and 'round us, a wandering and milky smoke'' :''As high as the saddle-girth, covering away from our glances the tide'' :''And those that fled and that followed from the foam-pale distance broke.'' :''The immortal desire of immortals we saw in their faces and sighed.'' The mixture of anapaests and iambs in this manner is most characteristic of late-19th-century verse, particularly that of Algernon Charles Swinburne in poems such as '' The Triumph of Time'' (1866) and the choruses from '' Atalanta in Calydon'' (1865). Swinburne also wrote several poems in more or less straight anapaests, with line-lengths varying from three feet ("Dolores") to eight feet ("March: An Ode").

Heptameter

Neutral Milk Hotel Neutral Milk Hotel was an American band formed by Jeff Mangum in Ruston, Louisiana, in 1989. They were active until 1998, and then from 2013 to 2015. The band's music featured a deliberately low-quality sound, influenced by indie rock and psy ...

's song " In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" can be described as mainly being written in anapaestic heptameter, or two dimetric lines followed by a trimetric one. At the end of the verses there is a critic monometer and a line that is a variation of an iambic pentameter. :''What a beautiful face'' :''I have found in this place'' :''That is circling all 'round the sun'' :''What a beautiful dream'' :''That could flash on the screen'' :''In a blink of an eye and be gone from me'' :''Soft and sweet'' :''Let me hold it close and keep it here with me''

Comic poetry

The anapaest's most common role in English verse is as a comic metre: the foot of the

limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

, of

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

's poem '' The Hunting of the Snark'' (1876),

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

's '' The Book of Nonsense'' (1846), ''

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' (1939) is a collection of whimsical Light poetry, light poems by T. S. Eliot about Cat, feline psychology and sociology, published by Faber and Faber. It serves as the basis for Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 ...

'' (1939) by T. S. Eliot, a number of Dr. Seuss books, among other examples.

References

{{reflist Metrical feet