Trochaic octameter
Trochaic octameter is a
Description and uses
The best known work in trochaic octameter is Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", which uses five lines of trochaic octameter followed by a "short" half line (in reality, 7 beats). By the end of the poem, the latter half line takes on the qualities of a refrain.[citation needed]
Another well-known work is
Lines in these poems are catalectic (' x ' x ' x ' x ' x ' x ' x ' ).DUM | da |
A line of trochaic octameter is eight of these in a row:[citation needed]
DUM | da | DUM | da | DUM | da | DUM | da | DUM | da | DUM | da | DUM | da | DUM | da |
We can
/ | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x |
The following first verse from "The Raven" shows the use of trochaic octameter. Note the heavy use of dactyls in the second and fifth line, which help to emphasize the more regular lines, and the use of strong accents to end the second, fourth and fifth lines, reinforcing the rhyme:
We can notate the scansion of this as follows:
/ | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x |
Once | up- | on | a | mid- | night | drear- | y, | while | I | pon- | dered | weak | and | wear- | y |
/ | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | |
O- | ver | many | a | quaint | and | cur- | ious | vol- | ume | of | for- | got- | ten | lore, | |
/ | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x |
While | I | nod- | ded, | near- | ly | nap- | ping, | sud- | den | ly | there | came | a | tap- | ping, |
/ | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | |
As | of | some- | one | gent- | ly | rap- | ping, | rap- | ping | at | my | cham- | ber | door. | |
/ | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | |
"'Tis | some | vis- | i- | tor," | I | mut- | tered, | "tap- | ping | at | my | cham- | ber | door; | |
/ | x | / | x | / | x | / | |||||||||
On- | ly | this, | and | noth- | ing | more |
In other literatures
Trochaic octameter is popular in Polish[4] and Czech literatures.[5] It is because the main stress in Polish falls regularly on the penultimate syllable and in Czech on the first syllable. So all Polish and Czech two-syllable words are trochaic.[6]
- Niedostępna ludzkim oczom, że nikt po niej się nie błąka,
- W swym bezpieczu szmaragdowym rozkwitała w bezmiar łąka
- (Bolesław Leśmian, Ballada bezludna)
- Stojím v šeru na skalině, o niž v pěnu, déšť a kouř
- duníc, ječíc rozbíjí se nesmírného vodstva bouř.
- (Svatopluk Čech, Písně otroka)
See also
References
- ^ Robert Browning, A Toccata of Galuppi's at Poetry Foundation.
- ^ Alfred Tennyson, Locksley Hall at Poetry Foundation.
- ISBN 978-1-62892-646-0. (Compares Locksley Hall and Mandalay.)
- ^ Wiktor J. Darasz, Mały przewodnik po wierszu polskim, Kraków 2003, p. 73 (in Polish).
- ^ Josef Durdík, Poetika jakožto aesthetika umení básnického, pp. 374-375 (in Czech).
- ^ Josef Brukner, Jiří Filip, Poetický slovník, Mladá fronta, Praha 1997, pp. 339-342 (in Czech).