Choriamb

Choriamb

In Greek and Latin poetry, a choriamb is a metron (prosodic foot) consisting of four syllables in the pattern long-short-short-long (— ‿ ‿ —), that is, a trochee alternating with an iamb. Choriambs are one of the two basic metra[1] that do not occur in spoken verse, as distinguished from true lyric or sung verse.[2] The choriamb is sometimes regarded as the "nucleus" of Aeolic verse, because the pattern long-short-short-long pattern occurs, but to label this a "choriamb" is potentially misleading.[3]

In the prosody of English and other modern European languages, "choriamb" is sometimes used to describe four-syllable sequence of the pattern stressed-unstressed-unstressed-stressed (again, a trochee followed by an iamb): for example, "over the hill", "under the bridge", and "what a mistake!".

English prosody

In English, the choriamb is often found in the first four syllables of iambic pentameter verses, as here in Keats' Ode to Autumn:


Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

See also

References

  1. ^ The other is Ionic meter.
  2. ^ James Halporn, Martin Ostwald, and Thomas Rosenmeyer, The Meters of Greek and Latin Poetry (Hackett, 1994, originally published 1963), p. 23.
  3. ^ Halporn et al., Meters, pp. 29–31.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Choriamb — Cho ri*amb, n.; pl. {Choriambs}. Same as {Choriambus}. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • choriamb — CHORIÁMB s.m. v. coriamb. Trimis de LauraGellner, 13.09.2007. Sursa: DN …   Dicționar Român

  • choriamb — [kôr΄ēam′bəs] n. pl. choriambuses [kôr′ē amb΄, kôr′ēam΄] n. [L choriambus < Gr choriambos < choreios, trochee, lit., pertaining to a chorus + iambos, IAMB] a metrical foot consisting, in Greek and Latin verse, of two short syllables between …   English World dictionary

  • choriamb — choriambic, adj. /kawr ee amb , am , kohr /, n. Pros. a foot of four syllables, two short between two long or two unstressed between two stressed. [1835 45; short for CHORIAMBUS] * * * …   Universalium

  • choriamb — m IV, D. u, Ms. choriambbie; lm M. y lit. «stopa wierszowa złożona z choreja i jambu, mająca pierwszą i ostatnią sylabę długą, dwie środkowe krótkie» ‹gr.› …   Słownik języka polskiego

  • choriamb — n. poetic foot of verse used in lyric poetry having two unstressed syllables flanked by the two rhythmic stresses marking the first and last syllables of the foot …   English contemporary dictionary

  • choriamb — cho·ri·amb …   English syllables

  • choriamb — /ˈkɒriˌæmb/ (say koree.amb) noun Prosody a foot of four syllables, two short between two long …  

  • choriamb —   n. metrical foot comprising a trochee and an iambus.    ♦ choriambic, a …   Dictionary of difficult words

  • choriamb — ˈkōrēˌam(b) noun (plural choriambs mz) Etymology: Late Latin choriambus, from Greek choriambos, from choreios choreus + iambos iambus : choriambus …   Useful english dictionary

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