Catalectic

Catalectic

A catalectic line is a metrically incomplete line of verse, lacking a syllable at the end or ending with an incomplete foot.

Making a meter cataletic can drastically change the feeling of the poem, and is often used to achieve a certain effect.Compare this selection from Book III of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha" with that from W. H. Auden's "Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love". The first is in trochaic tetrameter, and the second in trochaic tetrameter catalectic.

Catalexis can also apply to headlessness, where the unstressed syllable is dropped from the beginning of the line.

A line missing two syllables is called brachycatalectic.

See also

* Acatalectic

References

Fenton, James. "An Introduction to English Poetry". New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2002. ISBN 0-374-52889-6

Harmon, William. "A Handbook to Literature". Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2005. ISBN 0-13-134442-0


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • catalectic — CATALÉCTIC, catalectice, adj., s.n. (în metrica greco latină; în sintagma) Vers catalectic = vers care se termină printr un picior incomplet. – Din fr. catalectique. Trimis de valeriu, 02.12.2004. Sursa: DEX 98  cataléctic adj. n., pl.… …   Dicționar Român

  • Catalectic — Cat a*lec tic, a. [L. catalecticus, Gr. ? incomplete, fr. ? to leave off; kata down, wholly + lh gein to stop.] 1. (Pros.) Wanting a syllable at the end, or terminating in an imperfect foot; as, a catalectic verse. [1913 Webster] 2. (Photog. &… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • catalectic — (adj.) 1580s, wanting a syllable in the last foot, from L.L. catalecticus, from Gk. katalektikos leaving off, from kata down (see CATA (Cf. cata )) + legein to leave off, cease from (see LECTURE (Cf. lecture) (n.)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • catalectic — [kat΄ə lek′tik] adj. [LL catalecticus < Gr katalēktikos < kata , down + lēgein, to leave off, cease < IE base * (s)lēg , loose > SLACK1, L laxus] Prosody lacking a syllable, esp. in the last foot …   English World dictionary

  • catalectic — adjective Etymology: Late Latin catalecticus, from Greek katalēktikos, from katalēgein to leave off, from kata + lēgein to stop more at slack Date: 1589 lacking a syllable at the end of a line in metrical verse or ending in an incomplete foot •… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • catalectic — /kat l ek tik/, Pros. adj. 1. (of a line of verse) lacking part of the last foot; metrically incomplete, as the second line of One more unfortunate,/Weary of breath. n. 2. a catalectic line of verse. Cf. acatalectic, hypercatalectic. [1580 90; …   Universalium

  • catalectic — cat•a•lec•tic [[t]ˌkæt lˈɛk tɪk[/t]] adj. 1) pro (of a line of verse) lacking part of the last foot 2) pro a catalectic line of verse • Etymology: 1580–90; < LL catalēcticus < Gk katalēktikós incomplete < katalḗg(ein) to leave off …   From formal English to slang

  • catalectic — adjective Said of a line with incomplete meter, lacking a syllable at the end or ending with an incomplete foot …   Wiktionary

  • catalèctic — ca|ta|lèc|tic Mot Pla Adjectiu variable …   Diccionari Català-Català

  • cataléctic — adj. n., pl. cataléctice …   Romanian orthography

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