Cretic
Disyllables | |
---|---|
◡ ◡ | pyrrhic, dibrach |
◡ – | iamb |
– ◡ | trochee, choree |
– – | spondee |
Trisyllables | |
◡ ◡ ◡ | tribrach |
– ◡ ◡ | dactyl |
◡ – ◡ | amphibrach |
◡ ◡ – | anapaest, antidactylus |
◡ – – | bacchius |
– – ◡ | antibacchius |
– ◡ – | cretic, amphimacer |
– – – | molossus |
See main article for tetrasyllables. | |
A cretic (
In later poets the cretic foot could be resolved into a paeonic (ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ – or – ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ) or sometimes even five short syllables (ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ).[3]
In Latin, cretics were used for composition both in comedy and tragedy. They are fairly frequent in Plautus but rarer in Terence. (See Metres of Roman comedy.)
Words which include a cretic (e.g. Latin cīvitās and its various inflections) cannot be used in works composed in dactylic hexameter or dactylic pentameter.
For
Cultural references
— Ohio! the editor crowed in high treble from his uplifted scarlet face. My Ohio!
— A perfect cretic! the professor said. Long, short and long. Ulysses (1922), James Joyce.
Notes
- ^ Squire, pp. 142, 384.
- ^ Quoted by West, M. L. (1987). An Introduction to Greek Metre. Oxford; p. 39.
- ^ West (1987), p. 39.
References
- Getty, Robert J., A. Thomas Cole, and T.V.F. Brogan. "Cretic" in Preminger, Alex and T. V. F. Brogan, eds. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1993. 248.
- Squire, Irving, Musical Dictionary, Adamant Media Corporation; Replica edition (October 30, 2001) ISBN 978-0-543-90764-6.