Annis Aoidoiorg January 2006 The study of Greek meter exercises a great power of seduction over some scholars You can 64257nd recently published books on this topic which will devote an entire page to a schematic rendering of some tricky bit of Pi ID: 73489
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Aoidoi.org:GreekMeter2DeterminingthelengthofasyllableiseasiestinEpicverse,butcangetalittletrickierinsomeotherversesystems.Keepinginmindthatanopensyllableisonethatisfollowedbyasingleconsonantornoconsonantatallandthataclosedsyllableisonefollowedbymorethanoneconsonant,thebasicrulesare:Shortvowelsinopensyllablesarescannedshort.Shortvowelsinclosedsyllablesarescannedlong.Longvowelsanddiphthongsarelong,but...InEpicandelegiacs,alongvowelordiphthongattheendofawordmaybecomeshortenedifthefollowingwordstartswithavowel.Thisiscalledepiccorreption.Synaphaea:syllablelengthinmeterisdeterminedbytheline,nottheword.So,Ðisshort,butinthephraseÐptÒlemojitisscannedlongbecausethefollowingwordstartswithtwoconsonants,.Letmeemphasizethatthissyllableterminologyshouldnotbeconfusedwithactualvowellength.Therstalphaof¡nd£nwisnotlong;therstsyllable,however,is.Toavoidthisconfusionsomepeoplespeakofheavyandlightpositions.Inthisintroduction,whenIputlongorshortmarksabovevowelsinwords,I'mindicatingthelengthofsyllablepositions,notvowels,asin,forexample,¡nd£nw.Hereareafewexamplesscanned:t¦dîramÁnin¥eideqe£¢gla£·Ám£tefaàlonIncertainkindsofverse(elegyandiambics,mostly)thescanningrulescanbecomeabittrickierforshortvowelsinclosedsyllables.Ifaplosive(pbf,tdq,kgc)isfollowedbyaliquid(lr)oranasal(mn)inthesameword,thenaprecedingshortvowelmaybeshortorlong.Forexample,bothofthesewordmaybescannedorasthemeterrequires:tškna,patrÒj.However—therearealwaysexceptions—thecombinationsgm,gn,dm,dnalwaysmakealongsyllable. Aoidoi.org:GreekMeter4ResolutionandContractionSomemetersstringtogetherfeetininterestingways,thensticktothemperfectly.Othermeterstakeadvantageofthethetimeequivalenceofand,bothtwomoraelong,andallowvarioussubstitutions.Forexample,intheEpicdactylichexameter,formostofthefeetyoucanreplacethetwoshortsyllablesofthedactylwithalong,givingyouaspondee.Thisiscalledcontraction.Whentwoshortsyllablesareallowedtocontractweindicatethisexibilitywiththecombinedsign.Similarly,intheiambictrimeter,especiallyasusedinAtheniandrama,alongsyllablemayresolveintotwoshorts,turninganiambintoatribrach.Thelastsyllableofalineofverseorofasystemisusuallyfree:itmaybelongorshort.Theideaisthatashortnalsyllableislengthenedbythepausebetweenlines.Inthemetricalargot,afreesyllableisknownassyllabaancepsorjustanceps(inGreek,“common,”koin»).Notethoughthatsomemeters,especiallythosecommonlycalled“aeolic,”mayhaveancepssyllablesatthebeginningormiddleoftheverse,suchasthefourthsyllableofthelineintheSapphicstrophe.Atline-orsystem-endIwillindicateancepswithalongsyllable.ElsewhereIwilluse.FollowingM.L.West,manynowuse?toindicateancepspositions.CaesuraeandBridgesWhenawordendsinthemiddleofafoot,thebreakiscalledacaesura(Gk.tom»).Forexample,inthedactylicphrasemÁnin¥eidethewordmÁninendssothatthelastsyllableofthedactylisinthenextword.Manymetershaveaparticularplaceinthelinewhereaslightpause—oftencorrespondingtopunctuationorgrammaticalphrasing—naturallyfalls.Thispauseisknownasthecaesuraoftheline.Itwillusuallyoccurnearthecenteroftheverse,thoughnotusuallyexactlyinthemiddle.Inmetricalschematathecaesuramaybeindicatedbyabar, .Inmeterswhichmayallowcaesurainseveralplacesasecondarylocationwillbeindicatedwithadottedbar,___.Mostoftenthetermcaesuraalonemeanscaesuraoftheline.Adiaeresisiswhereawordendmatchestheendofafoot.Thisprobablyisn'tterriblyimportantunlessyouplantoconstruct—orre-construct—Greekpoetryyourself,butabridgeisaplacewhereadiaeresisorcaesuraisnotallowed.Forexample,nearlyallofHomer'shexametersavoidawordbreakinthe4thfootlikethis: (Hermann'sBridge). Aoidoi.org:GreekMeter6OtherEpicCuriosities.Homerwillsometimesdoublecertainconsonants(m,n,l,r,s)whenheneedsalongsyllable.Also,insomewordsavowelmaybestretchedtoaccomodatethemeter,too,suchasinlineIliad1.2oÙlomšnhnforÑlomšnhn.Thereareevenafewrarecaseswhereawordlike™pe…maybescanned,whichnoonehasyetreallyexplained.Finally,somecasesofmysteriouslylongsyllablesareaccountedforbyhistor-icallinguistics.IonicGreekusedtohavethedigamma(#),pronouncedlikeaw.ThisisnolongeractiveinthewrittenversionsoftheEpicsaswehavethem,soalengthenedsyllablemayoccasionallyreectasyllablethatwasclosedwhenthe#wasstillineffect,suchasintheaoristœd#eisa,“Iwasafraid.”ElegyandtheFive-of-NothingPentameterTheelegiacdistichismadeupofalineofhexameterfollowedbyalineoftheso-calledpentameter,whichisactuallyalinecomposedofapatterncalledthehemiepes(think“half[hemi-]anepic[-epes]line”),,repeatedwithacaesuraseparatingthetwo.Inthersthalfofthelinethedactylsmaycontractintospondees,sothepentameterlineisthis: Toemphasizethesymmetryofthepentamerline,Archaicpoetsmayrhymethenalsyllableofeachhemiepes.Mimnermus—whatwehaveofhim,anyway—doesn'tseemtodothisveryoften,butaboutonein7pentameterlinesofTheognishasthisrhyme.TheelegiacdistichenjoyedalonghistoryasthemeterofallsortsofoccasionalversewellintotheByzantineperiod.FootSurgery,andAbbreviationBeforewemoveontotheIonicandaeolicmetersIneedtotalkabitmoreaboutverseconstruction.Itisquitecommoninlongermetersforthelastfootoftheversetohavethenalpositionremoved;thisiscalledcatalexis(adjective“catalectic”).Thenewnalpositionbecomesancepsregardlessofitslengthbefore,andsincethesecatalecticformsgenerallycomeattheendofaline,they'reusuallywrittenoutaslong.Forexample,thecatalecticversionoftheiambicmetronisgenerally Aoidoi.org:GreekMeter8poetrywillndthisespeciallyconfusing,sincetheRomanscountfeetforthesemeters.Butthereisaverygoodreasontocountiambicmetersindipodies.Ineachdipodyoneparticularsyllableisanceps,andthisgivesthepairingadistinctiden-tity.iambicmetroniatrochaicmetrontrEntirebookscanbewrittenonthesubtletiesoftheionicmeters,butI'llgiveafewgeneralprinciples.First,thelastmetron—andmostespeciallythelastfoot—ofaverselineismosthighlyregulated,anddependingonthemeterandpoetmightnotadmitanysubstitutionsatall.Atribrachmayreplaceanyfootbutthelastintheverse.Thefootwhichcontainstheanceps(therstiniambics,thesecondintrochaics)maybereplacedbyananapestor,usuallytoaccomodatepropernames,adactyl.AnapesticsubstitutionismostcommonintheAtticcomedians,andusuallyrestrictedtotherstfootofiambicmetersinboththetragediansandthearchaicpoets.Byfarthemostpopulariambicmeteristheiambictrimeter.Thecaesuraismostoftenaftertherstsyllableofthethirdfoot,oraboutaquarterofthetimeaftertherstsyllableofthefourthfoot:_____asincqonÕjmne„jthlourÕnj¼komenpšdon,SkÚqhn™jo‡mon,j¥baton™rhm…an.PrometheusBound,1-2.Ifyouaddthreepositionstothefrontoftheiambictrimeter,(longsresolv-able),youhavethetrochaictetrametercatalectic.Heretheprimarycaesuraisxed: Aoidoi.org:GreekMeter10Thereareothercola,butthesearethefundamentalbuildingblocks.Thevocabu-larygetsalittleoutofcontrolwhendiscussingthesemeters,andhasaccumulatedovertwomillennia.Unfortunately,someofthesecolawillhavedifferentnamesindifferentsources.Noticetheancepssyllablesatthebeginningofmanyofthesecola.Thedoubleancepsisknownastheaeolicbase.WhenusedbyAeolianpoets,noneoftheaeolicmetersallowcontractionorresolution.WhenthesecolaappearinAtticdrama,orinPindar,isnotusedinthebaseexceptasaresolvedlong.Someofthesecolawereusedinmetersbytheline,orwerecombinedinvariousways.Forexample,Sappho94issimplyhagesichoreansbytheline:dšdukemn¢sel£nnakaˆPlh…adej:mšsaidšnÚktej,par¦d/œrcet/êra:œgwdmÒnakateÚdw.Often,however,thecolaareextendedtoproducenewlines.Therearethreewaystodothis:1.sufxiaoria^2.prexiaor^ia(caesuraisdelayeduntilaftertherstsyllableoftheseprexesifpossible)3.internalexpansionbydactylsorchoriambsTakeaglandsufxia^,andyougetthephalaecian,acommonmeterusedbythelineintheimperialperiod:Prex^iatohagandyougettheSapphichendecasyllabicline:Andifyoutaketwoofthose,andonemorewithafollowingadonean,yougettheSapphicstanza:______ Aoidoi.org:GreekMeter12^iaglglglia^ isthemeterofSappho96.Ofthe10lineswehavewhichcorrespondtotheendsoftherstandsecondlineofthestropheabove,sixhaveawordcrossingthecolonendintothenextline.IonicMetersandtheAnacreonticExceptforthemeterswe'reabouttolookat,ionicmetersaren'tmuchfoundinclassicalandarchaicpoetry,anddon'tseemtomixwellwithotherfeet.TheiruseinAtticdramaismostlyinsituationswherebarbarismisimplied,suchasintheBacchaibyEuripides.Theionicdimeterusedbythelineisthemostcommonrepresentationofionicmeters.Ifyouswapthetwocentralsyllablesoftheionicdimeteryougettheso-calledanacreontic.Finally,thisanacreonticmayhaveitsheadsyllablechoppedoff(calledacephaly),andthenewrstsyllablemadeanceps,givinga7-syllablelinecalledahemiambwhichisquitecommonlymixedwithanacreontics.ionicdimeteranacreontichemiambThereareotherlinesbasedonthehemiambandanacreontic—swappingofdura-tionsorcontractionandresolution—amongtheAnacreonticpoems.Forexam-ple,inAnacreontic18alllinesareanacreonticsexcept15,inwhichthersttwoshortsyllableshavecontracted.ChoralMetersSofarIhaveonlyintroducedverseformsthatinvolveeitherasinglemetricallinerepeatedasoftenasneeded(heroichexameter,iambictrimeter,anacreontics,etc.)orafewcolajoinedintoasmallstrophicstructure(theelegiacdistich,Sapphicstanzas).TheDorictraditionofchoralsongmadeversesonamuchgranderscale.Thestructureisgenerallyatriad—strophe,antistrophewiththesamemeterasthestrophe,epode—whichmayoccuronceorberepeatedseveraltimes.Onecaneasilyndstrophicstructurescomposedofdozensofcolaknittogether.Andthere Aoidoi.org:GreekMeter14contractthattheydoinepicandelegy.Theeelementsometimeshasresolution,notatedeforandefor(whichlastisquiterare).Aeolic.Theaeolicpoemsaresocalledbecauseofthefrequencyofaeoliccolainthem.Thesearenot,however,quitethesameaeoliccolawendinSapphoandAlcaeus.Inparticular,thetreatmentofthetwofreepositionsoftheaeolicbaseisparticular–bothpositionsmaynotbeshortandresolutionisallowedintherstposition.Thesymbolforthisalteredbaseis,whichmayberealizedas,,,or.Asingleinitialancepsmayalsoresolve,indicatedwiththesign.Anaclasticaeoliccolaarealsopopular:glgl__tltl__phrdoddod__TherstlineofPindar'saeolicstrophesisusuallyeasilyanalyzedintermsofthesecola.Linked,relatedcolaarecommon:tl__dod__ ,tl__gl__ .Mixedinamongtheseiambicelementsmaybefound,ia,^ia,ia^,.Resolutionispossibleiniaand^ia.Itisusuallymuchmoredifculttoanalyzelaterlinesofthestrophe(orepode)exactlyintermsofthestandardcola.Onceametricalthemehasbeenstatedintheopeninglineaprocessofmetricalelaborationtakesplace:simplerepetitionrepetitionofequivalent(e.g.,bychangingancepspositions)additionofasinglepositiontothefrontorend;fromdod__tophiscommonsubtractionofasinglepositioninternalexpansionintheaeolicstyle(usuallydactylic,notchoriambic)additionofiambicelements:tl__ tl__ia.compression,tl__c^ia tl__^iainversion(anaclasis),glph gl__phItwillusuallybepossibletorelateaninternallinetothelinethatcamejustbeforeitbutsometimesyouneedtolookfurtherback,andsometimestheinitialthemepersists.