Dactylic pentameter

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The dactylic pentameter is a verse-form which, in

. Thus the line most normally looks as follows (note that "—" marks a long syllable, "∪" a short syllable and " ∪ ∪ " either one long or two shorts):

    |— ∪ ∪ | — ∪ ∪ | — || — ∪ ∪ | — ∪ ∪ | —     

As in all classical verse-forms, the phenomenon of

must occur, after the first half-line, here marked ||.

"Pentameter" may seem a slightly strange term for this meter, as it seems to have six parts, but the reason is that each half of the line has two and a half feet, the two together thus making up five. Each half-line is called a hemiepes (half-epic), as resembling half a line of epic dactylic hexameter.

The pentameter is notable for its very tight structure, with substitutions allowed only in the first two feet. It seldom, if ever, occurs except in elegiac couplets.

See also

• Prosody (Latin)

References

External links

• Meter and Scansion with several Latin verse forms.