Dactyl (poetry)
Disyllables | |
---|---|
◡ ◡ | pyrrhic, dibrach |
◡ – | iamb |
– ◡ | trochee, choree |
– – | spondee |
Trisyllables | |
◡ ◡ ◡ | tribrach |
– ◡ ◡ | dactyl |
◡ – ◡ | amphibrach |
◡ ◡ – | anapaest, antidactylus |
◡ – – | bacchius |
– – ◡ | antibacchius |
– ◡ – | cretic, amphimacer |
– – – | molossus |
See main article for tetrasyllables. | |
A dactyl (
An example of dactylic meter is the first line of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem Evangeline (1847), which is in dactylic hexameter:
- This is the / forest prim- / eval. The / murmuring / pines and the / hemlocks,
The first five feet of the line are dactyls; the sixth a trochee.
Stephen Fry quotes Robert Browning's poem "The Lost Leader" as an example of the use of dactylic metre to great effect, creating verse with "great rhythmic dash and drive":[3]
- Just for a handful of silver he left us
- Just for a riband to stick in his coat
The first three feet in both lines are dactyls.
Another example is the opening lines of Walt Whitman's poem "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" (1859), a poem about the birth of the author's poetic voice:
- Out of the cradle, endlessly rocking [a dactyl, followed by a trochee ('cradle'); then another dactyl followed by a trochee ('rocking')]
- Out of the mockingbird's throat, the musical shuttle [2 dactyls, then a trochee ('throat, the'); then another dactyl, followed by a trochee]
- . . .
The dactyl "out of the..." becomes a pulse that rides through the entire poem, often generating the beginning of each new line, even though the poem as a whole, as is typical for Whitman, is extremely varied and "free" in its use of metrical feet.
Dactyls are the metrical foot of Greek and Latin elegiac poetry, which followed a line of dactylic hexameter with dactylic pentameter.
In the opening chapter of James Joyce's novel Ulysses (1922), a character quips that his name is "absurd": "Malachi Mulligan, two dactyls" (Mal-i-chi Mull-i-gan).
Dactyls in Contemporary Poetry
The anthology Measure for Measure: An Anthology of Poetic Meters collects a number of contemporary as well as classic poems in dactylic meter.[4] Recent dactylic poems in the meter online include "Moon for Our Daughters" and "Love in the Morning" by Annie Finch,[5][6] and "Song of the Powers" by David Mason[7]
See also
Sources
- Youmans, G. (2014). Rhythm and Meter: Phonetics and Phonology, Vol. 1. United Kingdom: Elsevier Science.[8]
- Fraser, N. M. (1930). A Study of Meter in Goethe's Faust. (n.p.): University of Wisconsin—Madison.[9]
- Finch, A. (1993). The ghost of meter: culture and prosody in American free verse. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.[10]
- Finch, A., and A. Oliver.[11]
References
- ^ "Dactyl - Examples and Definition of Dactyl". Literary Devices. 2015-03-13. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
- ^ "What is Poetic Meter? Oregon State Guide to Literary Terms". College of Liberal Arts. 2020-04-19. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
- ISBN 978-1-59240-248-9
- ISBN 978-0-375-71248-7
- ^ "Moon for Our Daughters? Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day". poets.org. 2023-08-14.
- ^ "Love in the Morning Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day". poets.org. 2023-08-14.
- ^ "Song of the Powers Poetry Foundation". poetryfoundation.org. 2023-08-14.
- ISBN 978-1-4832-1853-3.
- ^ Fraser, Nettie May (1930). A Study of Meter in Goethe's Faust. University of Wisconsin--Madison.
- ISBN 978-0-472-10405-5.
- ISBN 978-0-375-71248-7.