Acatalexis
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An acatalectic line of verse is one having the
catalectic
—for the simple reason that acatalexis is considered to be the "usual case" in the large majority of metrical contexts, and therefore explicit reference to it proves almost universally superfluous.
For example, to describe Shakespeare's sonnets as having been written in trochaic tetrameter, or in differentiating acatalectic verses from surrounding catalectic ones), explicit expression of the verse's metrical completeness may be achieved by using the term. When talking about poems published in languages other than English, the term might prove itself more useful. For example, acatalectic iambic lines are unusual in Polish poetry because feminine ending is dominant.[2] Thus, iambic pentameter in Polish is not 10-syllable long but almost always 11-syllable long.
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-631-20271-4.
- ^ Wiktor J. Darasz, Hipometria i hipermetria, Język Polski, 3/2001, pp. 189–191 (in Polish).