Any poetic work can be distinguished by the size in which it is written. The dactyl, examples of which are given in this article, is just one of them. There are also amphibrachium, anapest, trochee and iambic. It is worth noting that these are only the main poetic meters, in reality there are even more of them, some of them on at the moment are already outdated. Some poets in their works adhere to only one pre-selected poetic metre, this can be a dactyl, amphibrachium, or anapest. You will find examples in this article. Others use different techniques and styles when writing their poetry.
Poetic dimensions
Examples of dactyl will allow you to visualize what this poetic meter is. In Russian versification, line length most often varies poetic work. Thus, each poetic measure is divided into several components. So, an iambic can be, for example, one-foot, two-foot or three-foot.
A distinctive characteristic of almost any poetic meter is the presence or absence of caesura (this is a rhythmic pause) and catalectics (cutting and shortening of the foot).
What are the poetic meters?
All poetic meters that are widely used in Russian versification can be divided into only three groups.
The first includes monosyllabic sizes. A classic example of this size is a brachycolon. This is a monocotyledon meter, when each foot contains a word consisting of strictly one syllable. At the same time, there can be several feet in one line of a work; this is fully permitted by the rules of versification.
The second group includes two-syllable meters. These are perhaps the most common meters in Russian poetry, which include iambic and trochee. We will talk about them in more detail later.
In poems written in trochee, the stress always falls on the first syllable of the foot. In works created using iambic, the stress necessarily falls on the last syllable in the foot.
And finally the third group is called logaed. Its fundamental difference is that if all the previously given examples of poetic meters were based on a sequence of any number of feet of the same type, then logaed is a size in which several feet can alternate in one line.
Iambic
Examples of iambic, trochee, and dactyl will help you easily distinguish one poetic meter from another. In Russian versification, iambic is a poetic meter in which an unstressed syllable constantly alternates with a stressed one.
It is still not possible to establish the exact etymology of this term. It is only known that the so-called iambic chants were well known during the ancient holidays in honor of the goddess of fertility Demeter. That is why many now associate the birth of this term with the name of the servant of King Kelei, whose name was Yamba. If we remember the myth, only she managed to cheer up Demeter, who remained inconsolable for a long time due to the fact that she could not find her daughter Persephone. It is noteworthy that Yamba managed to do this with the help of obscene poetry.
According to another version, the name Yamba is an echo of an ancient word that has a slang meaning. It turns out that one way or another the term is rooted in profanity. True, there is another version according to which the word came from a consonant musical instrument that accompanied the performance of iambic songs.
Examples of using iambic
Iambic has been well known since the times of ancient poetry. The main difference between iambic and other poetic meters is its lightness and similarity to ordinary speech. Therefore, it was most often used by poets who wrote dramatic or lyrical works. For example, tragicomedies or fables. But iambic was not suitable for epic genres.
Iambic was and is actively used in Russian poetry. For example, it was often used by Alexander Pushkin. The beginning of his famous "Eugene Onegin" ("My uncle has the most honest rules...") is written in iambic. This, by the way, is an example of iambic tetrameter.
In Russian poetry, iambic tetrameter was used in epic and lyric poetry, iambic pentameter was used in lyric poetry and dramas of the 19th-20th centuries, and iambic hexameter was used in dramas and poems of the 18th century. There is also free-varied iambic, which was loved by the authors of fables of the 18th-19th centuries and comedies of the 19th century.
Trochee
Examples of dactyl and trochee will help you distinguish one poetic meter from another. So, trochee is a two-syllable poetic meter. In this case, the foot contains first a long and then a short syllable, a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one. Like iambic, it is widely used in Russian versification.
Most often, poets used tetrameter or hexameter trochee. Since the middle of the 19th century, trochee pentameter has become popular and has undergone significant development.
The trochee was often used by the chief Russian poet XIX century Alexander Pushkin, alternating it with iambic. That's why clear example chorea is best cited from his work. As an example, you can take the poem “Winter Evening”, which begins with the line “The storm covers the sky with darkness...”.
We will find an example of trochee pentameter in Mikhail Lermontov’s poem “I go out alone on the road...”. This line, which is also the title of the work, clearly demonstrates the features of trochee pentameter.
Dactyl
Examples of dactyl will allow you to remember this poetic meter once and for all, so as not to confuse it with any other.
This is a three-part meter, which originates in ancient metrics. In Russian versification, this poetic meter corresponds to a foot, consisting of one stressed syllable and two unstressed syllables following it.
Examples of dactyl in poems can be found in Mikhail Lermontov - “Heavenly Clouds, Eternal Wanderers...”. Interestingly, there is even a mnemonic rule for remembering the features of dactyl. The phrase “A deep hole is dug by dactyl” helps not to confuse it with other sizes.
In Russian versification, examples of dactyl are most often found in the tetrameter version. Two-foot was popular in the 18th century, and three-foot in the 19th century.
The name of this poetic meter comes from the Greek word for "finger". The point is that the finger consists of three phalanges, with one of them longer than the others. Likewise, the dactyl foot consists of three syllables, one of which is stressed and the rest unstressed.
Interestingly, in the 1920s there was a theory about the origin of rhythm in poetry that compared examples of dactyl verse to metrical hammer blows.
Amphibrachium
The five main poetic meters of Russian poetry are trochee, iambic, dactyl, amphibrachium, and anapest. Examples of poems written with their help help you quickly figure out how to distinguish one size from another and not get confused.
Amphibrachium is a special size that is formed by trisyllabic feet. Moreover, the strong place, that is, the stressed syllable, is the second in this case. Thus, the following alternation is formed: unstressed syllable - stressed syllable - unstressed syllable.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the tetrameter amphibrachium was very popular, and from the middle of the 19th century, the trimeter amphibrachium came into fashion.
Examples of such poems can be found, in particular, in Nikolai Nekrasov. In the poem “Frost the Voivode” there are the following lines: “It is not the wind that rages over the forest, \ Streams do not run from the mountains, \ Frost the Voivode patrols \ Walks around his domain.”
Anapaest
Anapest is also a three-syllable poetic meter. It is often compared to dactyl in the sense that it is its opposite.
In the ancient tradition, this was a poetic meter consisting of two short syllables and one long syllable.
In Russian versification, an anapest is a meter when the foot consists of two unstressed syllables and one stressed syllable.
This poetic meter became popular in the 20th century. Therefore, we can find examples from Alexander Blok - “Oh, spring without end and without end! \ Without end and without end, a dream.”
Hexameter
There are poetic meters that were actively used in ancient poetry, but are now practically not used. This also applies to hexameter. This was the most common meter in ancient poetry.
This is a rather complex meter, since in the broad sense it is any verse consisting of six meters. If we go into detail, a hexameter was a verse consisting of five dactyls or spondees, as well as one spondee or trochee present in the last foot.
Hexameter was used by Homer when writing the Illiad and Odyssey. There is also the concept of “modern hexameter,” which was widespread in European poetry of the 14th-18th centuries.
We looked at what two-syllable meters are in the syllabic-tonic system of versification, and also paid attention to four-syllable ones. Today we will study trisyllabic poetic meters.
First, compare two lines from the poems of Nikolai Gumilyov:
He did not lie to us, the spirit is sad and strict...
Today, I see, your look is especially sad...
Draw their diagrams and you will see that the first line is a typical iambic. But the second one is more difficult. This is a three-syllable meter, and it's called amphibrachium. Its rhythmic scheme is as follows:
– / – – / – – / – – / – – /
We use brackets to denote the feet:
(– / –) (– / –) (– / –) (– / –) (– /)
We see that in trisyllabic meter are in one foot two unstressed and one stressed syllable. The question arises: a how to distinguish a three-syllable meter from a two-syllable one? As a rule, all beginning poets and first-year students face this question. Faculty of Philology. Many people do not understand how to determine which foot is in front of them - two-syllable or three-syllable - if they don’t know in advance poem size.
And it's very simple.
In two syllables– located between two stressed syllables one unstressed: /–/.
In trisyllabic meter– between two stressed syllables are located two unstressed: /– –/.
In four-syllable meter (peon)– between two stressed syllables are three unstressed: / – – – /.
Notice the system? Now pay attention to the diagrams of the given lines again and try to determine whether the size in front of you is two-syllable or three-syllable.
Now about the names. There are three three-syllable sizes, as the name suggests. They are called like this:
– DACTYL;
– AMPHIBRACHIUS;
- ANAPEST.
Dactyl - three-syllable meter with stress on the first syllable of the foot(stressed syllables in line 1, 4, 7, 10, etc.):
The village suffering is in full swing...
Share you! - Russian female share!
Hardly any more difficult to find.
(N. Nekrasov)
Amphibrachium - three-syllable meter with stress on the second syllable of the foot(stressed syllables in lines 2, 5, 8, 11, etc.):
It is not the wind that rages over the forest,
Streams did not run from the mountains -
Moroz the voivode on patrol
Walks around his possessions. (N. Nekrasov)
Anapest - three-syllable meter with stress on the third syllable of the foot(stressed syllables on lines 3, 6, 9, 12, etc.):
I accept you, failure,
And good luck, my greetings to you!
In the enchanted area of crying,
There is no shame in the secret of laughter!
Trisyllabic sizes in Russian-language poetry are currently very popular. This can probably be partially explained by the fact that, using three-syllable meters, you can use longer words and find more interesting intonation and syntactic structures.
However, you should not limit yourself to the above dimensions. we will talk to you about “non-standard” sizes - dolniki, free verse, Russian hexameter, etc.
Practice.
1. Find three-syllable meters in your poems and compare them with poems in which you use two-syllable meters.
2. Try to remake any poem written in two-syllable meter into a “three-syllable” one or vice versa. Draw conclusions.
Versification(or versification) - from lat. versus - verse and facio - I do. Versification- organization of poetic speech, elements underlying a specific poetic system. The basis of poetic speech is, first of all, a certain rhythmic principle.Terminology
Rhythm- repetition of any text elements at certain intervals. In Russian, rhythm is formed using stress. Rhyme- consonance of the ends of verses (or hemistiches). Stanza- an organized combination of verses (a verse is a poetic line), naturally repeated throughout a poetic work or part of it.The simplest and most common way to connect verses into a stanza is to connect them with rhyme. The most common type of stanza is the quatrain, the least common is the couplet. Couplet- the simplest strophic formation of two verses joined by rhyme:
Eat pineapples, chew hazel grouse,Quatrain- strophic formation of four verses.
your last day is coming, bourgeois.
(V. Mayakovsky - 1917)
How can I forget? He came out staggeringFoot(lat. leg, foot) - structural unit verse. Foot(Latin - leg, foot, foot) is a sequence of several unstressed (weak) and one stressed (strong) syllables, alternating in a certain order.
The mouth twisted painfully...
I ran away without touching the railing,
I ran after him to the gate
(A. Akhmatova - 1911)
For classical meters, the foot consists of either two syllables (trochee and iambic) or three (dactyl, amphibrach and anapest).
The foot is the minimal structural unit of verse.
The number of feet in a poetic line specifies the name of the meter, for example, if a poem is written in iambic octometer, then there are 8 feet in each line (8 stressed syllables).
Foot - group of syllables, allocated and merged with a single rhythmic stress(hictom). The number of stressed syllables in a verse corresponds to the number of feet. Feet - combinations strong and weak (weak) positions are regularly repeated throughout the verse.
A simple foot happens:
- disyllabic, when two syllables are constantly repeated - stressed and unstressed, or vice versa (trochee, iambic...);
- trisyllabic, when one stressed and two unstressed syllables are repeated (anapaest, amphibrachium, dactyl...).
Accent ( speech) systems of versification are divided into three main groups:
- Syllabic,
- Tonic,
- Syllabic-tonic is a method of organizing a poem in which stressed and unstressed syllables alternate in a certain order, unchanged for all lines of the poem.
| Versification systems | Characteristic | Example |
| 1. Syllabic (the number of syllables is fixed) |
A system of versification in which rhythm is created by the repetition of verses with the same number of syllables, and the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables is not ordered; obligatory rhyme |
Thunder from one country Thunder from another country Vague in the air! Terrible in the ear! Clouds have rolled in Carry the water The sky was closed They were filled with fear! (V.K. Trediakovsky - Description of a thunderstorm) |
| 2. Tonic (the number of accents is fixed) |
A system of versification, the rhythm of which is organized repetition of stressed syllables; the number of unstressed syllables between stresses varies freely |
The street winds like a snake. Houses along the snake. The street is mine. The houses are mine. (V.V. Mayakovsky - poem “Good!”) |
| 3. Syllabic-tonic (the number of syllables and the number of stressed positions are recorded) |
A system of versification, which is based on the equalization of the number of syllables, the number and place of stress in poetic lines | Do you want to know what I saw Free? - Lush fields, Hills covered with a crown Trees growing all around Noisy with a fresh crowd, Like brothers dancing in a circle. (M.Yu. Lermontov - Mtsyri) |
All groups are based on repetition. rhythmic units(rows), the commensurability of which is determined by a given location stressed and unstressed syllables within lines.
System versification, based on equal number stressed syllables in a poetic line, while the number of unstressed syllables in a line is more or less free. Syllabic-tonic dimensions
IN Russian syllabic-tonic versification became widespread five stop:
- Trochee
- Dactyl
- Amphibrachium
- Anapaest
Size is usually defined as a sequence of several feet. Poetic meters are never carried out exactly in a poem, and there are often deviations from the given scheme.
Skipping stress, that is, replacing a stressed syllable with an unstressed one, is called pyrrhichium, replacing an unstressed syllable with a stressed one is called spondee.
Legend
__/ - stressed syllable __ - unstressed syllablePoetic dimensions
(in the syllabic-tonic system of versification)- Two-syllable poetic meters:
__/__
- foot Chorea
Trochee- two-syllable verse meter, in which the stressed syllable comes first , on the second unstressed.
To remember:
The clouds are rushing, the clouds are swirling,
On trochee they are flying
__ __/ - foot YambaIambic- two-syllable verse size, in which first syllable unstressed , second drum.
- Trisyllabic poetic meters:
__/__ __
- foot Dactyl
Dactyl- a three-syllable verse in which the first syllable is stressed and the rest are unstressed.
To remember:
You are dug yes ktilem I'm so deep
__ __/__ - foot AmphibrachiumAmphibrachium- a three-syllable verse in which the second syllable is stressed and the rest are unstressed.
__ __ __/ - foot AnapestaAnapaest- a three-syllable verse in which the third syllable is stressed and the rest are unstressed.
To remember the names trisyllabic sizes poems need to be learned the word LADY.
DAMA stands for:
D- dactyl - stress on the first syllable,
AM- amphibrachium - stress on the second syllable,
A- anapest - stress is on the third syllable.
Examples
Poem |
Poetic size |
Example tetrameter trochee: The storm darkens the sky |
Trochee __/__ |
Example pentameter trochee: I go out alone onto the road; |
Trochee __/__ |
Example trimeter trochee: The swallows are gone, |
Trochee __/__ |
Example iambic tetrameter: My uncle has the most honest rules, |
__ __/ |
Example iambic tetrameter: I remember that wonderful moment |
__ __/ |
Example iambic pentameter: Dressed up as wives, we will lead the city together, |
__ __/ |
Example iambic pentameter: You will be sad when the poet dies, |
__ __/ |
Example dactyl trimeter: No matter who calls, I don’t want to |
Dactyl __/__ __ |
Example dactyl tetrameter: Heavenly clouds, eternal wanderers! |
Dactyl __/__ __ |
Example dactyl tetrameter: Glorious autumn! Healthy, vigorous |
Dactyl __/__ __ |
Example trimeter amphibrachium: It’s not the wind that’s raging over the forest, |
Amphibrachium __ __/__ |
Example tetrameter amphibrachium: Dearer than the fatherland - I didn’t know anything |
Amphibrachium __ __/__ |
Example trimeter amphibrachium: There are women in Russian villages |
Amphibrachium __ __/__ |
Example trimeter amphibrachium: There was a lot of noise in the middle of the noise, |
Amphibrachium __ __/__ |
Example trimeter anapest: Oh, spring without end and without edge - |
Anapaest __ __ __/ |
Example trimeter anapest: There are secrets in your songs |
Anapaest __ __ __/ |
Example trimeter anapest: I will disappear from melancholy and laziness, |
Anapaest __ __ __/ |
How to determine poetic size?
| |
| Name | Brief description | Example |
| Trochee | Two-syllable foot with stress on the first syllable in | The Terek howls, wild and evil, Between the rocky masses, His cry is like a storm, Tears fly in splashes. (M. Yu. Lermontov) |
| Iambic | Two-syllable foot with stress on the second syllable in the syllabic-tonic addition system | There is a hustle and bustle in the front hall; Meeting new faces in the living room, Barking mosek, smacking girls, Noise, laughter, crush at the threshold... (A.S. Pushkin) |
| Dactyl | Three-syllable foot with stress on the first syllable in the syllabic-tonic addition system | No matter who calls, I don’t want to To fussy tenderness I trade hopelessness And, closing myself off, I remain silent. (A. A. Blok) |
| Amphibrachium | Three-syllable foot with stress on the second syllable in the syllabic-tonic addition system | It is not the wind that rages over the forest, Streams did not run from the mountains - Frost voivode on patrol Walks around his possessions. (N. A. Nekrasov) |
| Anapaest | Three-syllable foot with stress on the third syllable in the syllabic-tonic addition system | I will disappear from melancholy and laziness, Lonely life is not nice My heart aches, my knees weaken, In every carnation of fragrant lilac, A bee crawls in singing. (A. A. Fet) |
How to determine poetic size?
I’ll show you using the example of a poem by N.A. Nekrasov "Peasant Children". Let's take the first two lines:
O dear rogues! Who has seen them often?
He, I believe, loves peasant children!
1. The first thing we do is divide each line into syllables (surely, you know better than me that as many vowels as there are in a word, there are as many syllables), we get 2 big words:
o - mi - ly - e - plu - you - who - often - a hundred - of them - seen
he - believe - I - love - bit - peasant - children
2. Done. Now we put emphasis.
o - mi " - ly - e - plu" - you - who - cha " - a hundred - of them - vi " - affairs
that - ve " - ryu - I - lyu " - bit - crosses " n - ski - de - those " th
3. So. Now we divide into feet: either 2 syllables in a foot, or 3 syllables.
Let's try to divide into 2 syllables:
o - mi " / - ly - e / - plu" - you / - who - cha " / - a hundred - of them / - vi " - affairs /
that - ve " / - ryu - I / - lyu " - bit / - crosses" n / - skikh - de / - those" th
We see that it turns out to be some kind of nonsense. Somewhere the stress is on the first syllable in the foot, somewhere on the second. We divide 3 syllables in a foot:
o - mi " - ly / - e - plu" - you / - who - cha " - one hundred / - them - vi " - affairs /
that - ve " - ryu / - I - lyu " - bit / - crosses" n - skikh / - de - those " th
Now we have clearly seen that the stress in each foot falls on the 2nd syllable. The last foot in the second line was incomplete - this is normal. There are also unstressed feet, most often this occurs in two-syllable meters; in our case there were no unstressed feet, but know that such a phenomenon exists.
4. Now the small matter is to determine the size of the verse: a three-syllable size in which the stress falls on the second syllable is amphibrachium.
Let's consider another option for determining the size of a verse.
It's a little simpler.
We will not divide by syllables, but will immediately put stress on the words.
Then we count what numbers we have accents under:
2-4-6-8 - iambic;
1-3-5-7 - trochee;
1-4-7-10 - dactyl;
2-5-8-11- amphibrachium;
3-6-9-12 - anapest.
Choose any method you like
Is it really so difficult - determine the size of the verse?
Some useful tips on how to remember poetic meters
The two-syllable is easy to remember: Iambic- I is the last letter, and the stress is on the second syllable, and the trochee, accordingly, is already on the first.
To remember the three-syllable meters of poems, you need to learn the word LADY. DAMA stands for: D - d actil, means stress on the first syllable, AM - am fibrachius on the second syllable, fourth letter A - and the admonition, means the emphasis is on the third.
Instructions
First of all, to determine the size, you need to read the poem rhythmically, doing it forcefully, without paying attention to the meaning of the words, as if beating a drum.
Now count how many unstressed syllables are between the stressed ones. In our example, there is one unstressed syllable per stressed syllable, which means it is a two-syllable meter - iambic or trochee. Remember: in trochee the stress is on the first of two syllables, in iambic the stress is on the second. This means that the example we took from “Eugene Onegin” is iambic.
Example of a trochee:
my cheerful ringing ball
Where did you rush to jump
With a little practice, you will learn to determine the meter of a poem in your head without marking stressed and unstressed syllables on paper.
Trisyllabic poetic meters are distinguished in the same way. The only difference is that in one foot in this case there will be one stressed and two unstressed syllables. If the stress falls on the very first syllable, this size is called dactyl, if on the second - amphibrach, on the third - anapest.
Dactyl example:
heavenly clouds, eternal wanderers
Example amphibrachium:
He will stop a galloping horse,
will enter the burning hut
Example of anapest:
I love you life,
which in itself is not new
To determine the number of feet (a foot is a group of syllables, one of which is stressed), that is, to find out whether it is trochee trimeter or, for example, iambic pentameter, you need to count the number of stressed syllables. In the example from “Eugene Onegin” we see that this is iambic tetrameter. S. Marshak's poem about the ball is a trochaic tetrameter.
Remember that stressed syllables during rhythmic reading may not correspond to the usual stress in words! For example, in the word “zaNemOg” from our first example, the actual stress is one (on “O”), but when reading rhythmically we also hear a second one, on “A”.
