Expertlatin
- What are the rules of dactylic hexameter?
- What poem is an example of dactylic hexameter?
- Where do you put caesura in dactylic hexameter?
- How long is a hexameter?
What are the rules of dactylic hexameter?
Dactylic hexameter consists of lines made from six (hexa) feet, each foot containing either a long syllable followed by two short syllables (a dactyl: – ˇ ˇ) or two long syllables (a spondee: – –). The first four feet may either be dactyls or spondees. The fifth foot is normally (but not always) a dactyl.
What poem is an example of dactylic hexameter?
Dactylic hexameter is a historically important pattern of syllables in poetry. Lines of dactylic hexameter have six feet, divided into sets of three beats. E.g. An example of dactylic hexameter is the Latin first line of 'The Aeneid' by Virgil: "arma virumque canō, Troiae quī prīmus ab ōrīs."
Where do you put caesura in dactylic hexameter?
In dactylic hexameter, a caesura occurs any time the ending of a word does not coincide with the beginning or the end of a metrical foot; in modern prosody, however, it is only called one when the ending also coincides with an audible pause in the line.
How long is a hexameter?
Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables).
