Anapaest

Anapaest

An anapaest or anapest, also called antidactylus, is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. In classical quantitative meters it consists of two short syllables followed by a long one (as in a-na-paest); in accentual stress meters it consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable. It may be seen as a reversed dactyl.

Here is an example from William Cowper's "Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk" (1782), composed in anapaestic trimeter:

:"I am out of humanity's reach":"I must finish my journey alone"

Because of its length and the fact that it ends with a stressed syllable and so allows for strong rhymes, anapaest can produce a very rolling, galloping feeling verse, and allows for long lines with a great deal of internal complexity. The following is from Byron's The Destruction of Sennacherib:

:"The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold":"And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold":"And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea":"When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee."

An even more complex example comes from Yeats ("The Wanderings of Oisin"). He intersperses anapests and iambs, using six-foot lines (rather than four feet as above). Since the anapaest is already a long foot, this makes for very long lines.

:"Fled foam underneath us and 'round us, a wandering and milky smoke":"As high as the saddle-girth, covering away from our glances the tide":"And those that fled and that followed from the foam-pale distance broke.":"The immortal desire of immortals we saw in their faces and sighed."

The mixture of anapaests and iambs in this manner is most characteristic of late 19th century verse, particularly that of Algernon Swinburne in poems such as "The Triumph of Time" and the choruses from "Atalanta in Calydon". Swinburne also wrote several poems in more or less straight anapaests, with line-lengths varying from three feet ("Dolores") to eight feet ("March: An Ode"). However, the anapaest's most common role in English verse is as a comic metre, the foot of the limerick, of Lewis Carroll's poem "The Hunting of the Snark", Edward Lear's nonsense poems, T. S. Eliot's "Book of Practical Cats", a number of Dr. Seuss stories, and innumerable other examples.

Apart from their independent role, anapaests are sometimes used as substitutions in iambic verse. In strict iambic pentameter, anapaests are rare, but they are found with some frequency in freer versions of the iambic line, such as the verse of Shakespeare's last plays, or the lyric poetry of the 19th century.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Anapaest — An a*p[ae]st, Anapaestic An a*p[ae]s tic Same as {Anapest}, {Anapestic}. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • anapaest — /ˈænəpɛst/ (say anuhpest), / pist/ (say peest) noun a foot of three syllables, two short followed by one long (quantitative metre), or two unstressed followed by one stressed (accentual metre). Thus, at a time is an accentual anapaest. Also,… …  

  • anapaest — n. foot consisting of two short syllables followed by one long (Poetry) …   English contemporary dictionary

  • anapaest — [ anəpi:st, pɛst] (US anapest) noun Prosody a metrical foot consisting of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable. Derivatives anapaestic pi:stɪk, pɛstɪk adjective Origin C16: via L. from Gk anapaisto …   English new terms dictionary

  • anapaest — BrE, anapest AmE noun (C) technical part of a line of poetry consisting of two short sounds then one long one anapaestic adjective …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • anapaest — an·a·paest …   English syllables

  • anapaest —   n. metrical foot of two short syllables followed by one long syllable.    ♦ anapaestic, a …   Dictionary of difficult words

  • anapaest — n. (US anapest) Prosody a foot consisting of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable. Derivatives: anapaestic adj. Etymology: L anapaestus f. Gk anapaistos reversed (because the reverse of a dactyl) …   Useful english dictionary

  • Anapaestic — Anapaest An a*p[ae]st, Anapaestic An a*p[ae]s tic Same as {Anapest}, {Anapestic}. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Spondee — In poetry, a spondee is a metrical foot consisting of two long syllables, as determined by syllable weight in classical meters, or two stressed syllables, as determined by stress in modern meters. This makes it somewhat unique in English verse as …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”