Dactylic tetrameter is a
metre
The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...
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 addition to, or in ...
.
It refers to a line consisting of four
dactylic feet
The foot (: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is an organ at the terminal part of the leg made up of ...
. "Tetrameter" simply means four poetic feet. Each foot has a stressed
syllable
A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...
followed by two unstressed syllables, the opposite of an
anapest
An anapaest (; also spelled anapæst or anapest, also called antidactylus) is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. In classical quantitative meters it consists of two short syllables followed by a long one; in accentual stress meters it consist ...
, sometimes called antidactylus to reflect this fact.
Example
A dactylic foot is one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones:
A dactylic tetrameter would therefore be:
Scanning this using an "x" to represent an unstressed syllable and a "/" to represent a stressed syllable would make a dactylic tetrameter like the following:
The following lines from
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
' "
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written primarily by John Lennon with assistance from Paul McCartney, and credited to the Len ...
" demonstrate this, the scansion being:
Another
example
Example may refer to:
* ''exempli gratia'' (e.g.), usually read out in English as "for example"
* .example, reserved as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level domain of the Internet
** example.com, example.net, example.org, an ...
, from
Browning:
Another example from
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...
of his song "
Famous Blue Raincoat
"Famous Blue Raincoat" is a song by Leonard Cohen. It is the sixth track on his third album, '' Songs of Love and Hate'', released in 1971. The song is written in the form of a letter (many of the lines are written in amphibrachs). The lyric tell ...
":
See also
*
Dactyl (poetry)
A dactyl (; from Greek ) is a foot in poetic meter. In quantitative verse, often used in Greek or Latin, a dactyl is a long syllable followed by two short syllables, as determined by syllable weight. The best-known use of dactylic verse is in ...
*
Tetrameter
In poetry, a tetrameter is a line of four metrical feet. However, the particular foot can vary, as follows:
* '' Anapestic tetrameter:''
** "And the ''sheen'' of their ''spears'' was like ''stars'' on the ''sea''" (Lord Byron, " The Destruction ...
*
Alcmanian verse, for the dactylic tetrameter in Greek and Latin poetry
References
{{Reflist
Types of verses