In poetry, a hendecasyllable (sometimes hendecasyllabic) is a line of eleven syllables. The term may refer to several different poetic meters, the older of which are

quantitative Quantitative may refer to: * Quantitative research, scientific investigation of quantitative properties * Quantitative analysis (disambiguation) * Quantitative verse, a metrical system in poetry * Statistics, also known as quantitative analysis ...

and used chiefly in classical (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

) poetry, and the newer of which are syllabic or accentual-syllabic and used in medieval and modern poetry.

Classical

In classical poetry, "hendecasyllable" or "hendecasyllabic" may refer to any of three distinct 11-syllable

Aeolic In linguistics, Aeolic Greek (), also known as Aeolian (), Lesbian or Lesbic dialect, is the set of dialects of Ancient Greek spoken mainly in Boeotia; in Thessaly; in the Aegean island of Lesbos; and in the Greek colonies of Aeolis in Anato ...

meters, used first in Ancient Greece and later, with little modification, by Roman poets. Aeolic meters are characterized by an Aeolic base × × followed by a choriamb – u u –; where –=a long syllable, u=a short syllable, and ×=an anceps, that is, a syllable either long or short. The three Aeolic hendecasyllables (with base and choriamb in bold) are: Phalaecian ( la, hendecasyllabus phalaecius): × × – u u – u – u – – This is a line used only occasionally in Greek choral odes and scolia, but a favorite of

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poetry, Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical h ...

who realized the Aeolic base as – – or – × or × –, but not as × ×; for example, in the first poem in his collection (with formal equivalent, substituting English stress for Latin length): Alcaic ( la, hendecasyllabus alcaicus): × – u – × – u u – u – Here the Aeolic base is truncated to a single anceps. This meter typically appears as the first two lines of an Alcaic stanza. (For an English example, see §English, below.) Sapphic ( la, hendecasyllabus sapphicus): – u – × – u u – u – – Again, the Aeolic base is truncated. This meter typically appears as the first three lines of a Sapphic stanza, though it has served in stichic verse, for example by Seneca and

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480 – 524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, '' magister officiorum'', historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the t ...

. Sappho wrote many of the stanzas subsequently named after her, for example (with formal equivalent, substituting English stress for Greek length):

Italian

The hendecasyllable ( it, endecasillabo) is the principal metre in Italian poetry. Its defining feature is a constant stress on the tenth syllable, so that the number of syllables in the verse may vary, equaling eleven in the usual case where the final word is stressed on the penultimate syllable. The verse also has a stress preceding the caesura, on either the fourth or sixth syllable. The first case is called ''endecasillabo a minore'', or lesser hendecasyllable, and has the first hemistich equivalent to a '' quinario''; the second is called ''endecasillabo a maiore'', or greater hendecasyllable, and has a '' settenario'' as the first hemistich.Claudio Ciociola (2010
"Endecasillabo"
''Enciclopedia dell'Italiano'' (in Italian). Accessed March 2013. There is a strong tendency for hendecasyllabic lines to end with feminine rhymes (causing the total number of syllables to be eleven, hence the name), but ten-syllable lines (''"Ciò che 'n grembo a Benaco star non può"'') and twelve-syllable lines (''"Ergasto mio, perché solingo e tacito"'') are encountered as well. Lines of ten or twelve syllables are more common in rhymed verse; '' versi sciolti'', which rely more heavily on a pleasant rhythm for effect, tend toward a stricter eleven-syllable format. As a novelty, lines longer than twelve syllables can be created by the use of certain verb forms and affixed enclitic pronouns (''"Ottima è l'acqua; ma le piante abbeverinosene."''). Additional accents beyond the two mandatory ones provide rhythmic variation and allow the poet to express thematic effects. A line in which accents fall consistently on even-numbered syllables (''"Al còr gentìl rempàira sèmpre amóre"'') is called iambic (''giambico'') and may be a greater or lesser hendecasyllable. This line is the simplest, commonest and most musical but may become repetitive, especially in longer works. Lesser hendecasyllables often have an accent on the seventh syllable (''"fàtta di giòco in figùra d'amóre"''). Such a line is called dactylic (''dattilico'') and its less pronounced rhythm is considered particularly appropriate for representing dialogue. Another kind of greater hendecasyllable has an accent on the third syllable (''"Se Mercé fosse amìca a' miei disìri"'') and is known as anapestic (''anapestico''). This sort of line has a crescendo effect and gives the poem a sense of speed and fluidity. It is considered improper for the lesser hendecasyllable to use a word accented on its antepenultimate syllable (''parola sdrucciola'') for its mid-line stress. A line like ''"Più non sfavìllano quegli òcchi néri"'', which delays the caesura until after the sixth syllable, is not considered a valid hendecasyllable. Most classical Italian poems are composed in hendecasyllables, including the major works of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His '' Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ...

, Francesco Petrarca,

Ludovico Ariosto Ludovico Ariosto (; 8 September 1474 – 6 July 1533) was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic ''Orlando Furioso'' (1516). The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's '' Orlando Innamorato'', describes th ...

, and

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' ( Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

. The rhyme systems used include terza rima, ottava,

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...

and canzone, and some verse forms use a mixture of hendecasyllables and shorter lines. From the early 16th century onward, hendecasyllables are often used without a strict system, with few or no rhymes, both in poetry and in drama. This is known as ''verso sciolto''. An early example is ''Le Api'' ("the bees") by Giovanni di Bernardo Rucellai, written around 1517 and published in 1525 (with formal equivalent paraphrase which mirrors the original's syllabic counts, varied caesurae, and line- and hemistich-final stress profiles): Like other early Italian-language tragedies, the ''Sophonisba'' of

Gian Giorgio Trissino Gian Giorgio Trissino (8 July 1478 – 8 December 1550), also called Giovan Giorgio Trissino and self-styled as Giovan Giωrgio Trissino, was a Venetian Renaissance humanist, poet, dramatist, diplomat, grammarian, linguist, and philosopher. ...

(1515) is in blank hendecasyllables. Later examples can be found in the ''Canti'' of

Giacomo Leopardi Count Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi (, ; 29 June 1798 – 14 June 1837) was an Italian philosopher, poet, essayist, and philologist. He is considered the greatest Italian poet of the nineteenth century and one o ...

, where hendecasyllables are alternated with ''settenari''.

Polish

The hendecasyllabic metre ( pl, jedenastozgłoskowiec) was very popular in Polish poetry, especially in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, owing to strong Italian literary influence. It was used by Jan Kochanowski,Compare: Summary n:Lucylla Pszczołowska, Wiersz polski. Zarys historyczny, Wrocław 1997, p. 398. Piotr Kochanowski (who translated '' Jerusalem Delivered'' by

), Sebastian Grabowiecki,

Wespazjan Kochowski Wespazjan (Vespasian) Kochowski (coat of arms: Nieczuja) (1633 in Gaj, a village which no longer exists, near Waśniów in Sandomierz Land – June 6, 1700 in Kraków) was one of the most noted historians and poets of Polish Baroque, the mo ...

and

Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski Prince Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski a.k.a. "Mirobulius Tassalinus" (4 March 1642 – 17 January 1702) was a Polish noble, politician, patron of the arts and writer. Biography Lubomirski was the son of Marshal and Hetman Jerzy Sebastia ...

. The greatest Polish Romantic poet,

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish ...

, set his poem

Grażyna Grażyna is a Polish feminine given name. The name was created by the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz for the main character of his 1823 poem '' Grażyna''. The name is derived from the Lithuanian adjective ''gražus'', meaning "pretty", "beautiful". ...

in this measure. The Polish hendecasyllable is widely used when translating English

blank verse Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century", and ...

. The eleven-syllable line is normally a line of 5+6 syllables with medial caesura, primary stresses on the fourth and tenth syllables, and feminine endings on both half-lines. Although the form can accommodate a fully iambic line, there is no such tendency in practice, word stresses falling variously on any of the initial syllables of each half-line. o o o S s , o o o o S s o=any syllable, S=stressed syllable, s=unstressed syllable A popular form of Polish literature that employs the hendecasyllable is the Sapphic stanza: 11/11/11/5. The Polish hendecasyllable is often combined with an 8-syllable line: 11a/8b/11a/8b. Such a stanza was used by Mickiewicz in his ballads, as in the following example (with formal equivalent paraphrase):

Portuguese

The hendecasyllable ( pt, hendecassílabo) is a common meter in Portuguese poetry. The best-known Portuguese poem composed in hendecasyllables is

Luís de Camões Luís Vaz de Camões (; sometimes rendered in English as Camoens or Camoëns, ; c. 1524 or 1525 – 10 June 1580) is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespe ...

' '' Lusiads'', which begins as follows: In Portuguese, the hendecasyllable meter is often called "decasyllable" (''decassílabo''), even when the work in question uses overwhelmingly feminine rhymes (as is the case with the ''Lusiads''). This is due to Portuguese prosody considering verses to end at the last stressed syllable, thus the aforementioned verses are effectively decasyllabic according to Portuguese scansion.

Spanish

The hendecasyllable ( es, endecasílabo) is less pervasive in Spanish poetry than in Italian or Portuguese, but it is commonly used with Italianate verse forms like sonnets and ottava rima (as found, for example, in Alonso de Ercilla's epic '' La Araucana''). Spanish dramatists often use hendecasyllables in tandem with shorter lines like heptasyllables, as can be seen in Rosaura's opening speech from Calderón's '' La vida es sueño'':

English

The term "hendecasyllable" most often refers to an imitation of Greek or Latin metrical lines, notably by

Alfred Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of hi ...

, Swinburne, and

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American collo ...

("For Once Then Something"). Contemporary American poets Annie Finch ("Lucid Waking") and Patricia Smith ("The Reemergence of the Noose") have published recent examples. In English, which lacks phonemic length, poets typically substitute stressed syllables for ''long'', and unstressed syllables for ''short''. Tennyson, however, attempted to maintain the quantitative features of the meter (while supporting them with concurrent stress) in his Alcaic stanzas, the first two lines of which are Alcaic hendecasyllables: Occasionally "hendecasyllable" is used to denote a line of

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 that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called " feet". "Ia ...

with a feminine ending, as in the first line of John Keats's '' Endymion'': "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever".

References

{{reflist

Classical

Italian

Polish

Portuguese

Spanish

English

See also

References

Further reading

Italian texts

Polish texts