Cretic

Cretic
Metrical feet
Disyllables
˘ ˘ pyrrhus, dibrach
˘ ¯ iamb
¯ ˘ trochee, choree
¯ ¯ spondee
Trisyllables
˘ ˘ ˘ tribrach
¯ ˘ ˘ dactyl
˘ ¯ ˘ amphibrach
˘ ˘ ¯ anapest, antidactylus
˘ ¯ ¯ bacchius
¯ ¯ ˘ antibacchius
¯ ˘ ¯ cretic, amphimacer
¯ ¯ ¯ molossus
See main article for tetrasyllables.
v · metrical foot containing three syllables: long, short, long. In Greek poetry, the cretic was usually a form of paeonic or aeolic verse. However, any line mixing iambs and trochees could employ a cretic foot as a transition. In other words, a poetic line might have two iambs and two trochees, with a cretic foot in between ( -' -' '-' '- '-).

For Romance language poetry, the cretic has been a common form in folk poetry, whether in proverbs or tags (e.g., in English, "See ya' lat'r, alligator/ After while, crocodile"). Additionally, some English poets have responded to the naturally iambic nature of English and the need for a trochaic initial substitution to employ a cretic foot. That is, it is commonplace for English poetry to employ a trochee in the first position of an otherwise iambic line, and some poets have consciously worked with cretic lines and fully cretic measures. English Renaissance songs employed cretic dimeter fairly frequently (e.g. "Shall I die? Shall I fly?" attributed to William Shakespeare). Because the cretic, in stress-based prosody, is natural for a comparison or antithesis, it is well suited to advertising slogans and adages.

Annie Hall's often-quoted line from the movie of that name is spoken as a cretic: "La-di-dah!"

Notes

  1. ^ Squire, pp. 142, 384.

References

  • Getty, Robert J., A. Thomas Cole, and T.V.F. Brogan. "Cretic" in Preminger, Alex and T. V. F. Brogan, eds. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1993. 248.
  • Squire, Irving, Musical Dictionary, Adamant Media Corporation; Replica edition (October 30, 2001) ISBN 978-0543907646.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • cretic — CRÉTIC, Ă adj. ritm cretic = ritm ternar, inversul amfibrahului, în care silaba de la mijloc este neaccentuată. (< fr. crétique, lat. creticus) Trimis de raduborza, 15.09.2007. Sursa: MDN …   Dicționar Român

  • Cretic — Cre tic (kr[=e] t[i^]k), n. [L. Creticus (sc. pes foot), Gr. Kritiko s (sc. poy s foot), prop., a Cretan (metrical) foot.] (Gr. & Lat. Pros.) A poetic foot, composed of one short syllable between two long ones ( [crescent] ). Bentley. [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • cretic — cre·tic (krēʹtĭk) n. See amphimacer.   [Latin Crēticus, of Crete, Cretic foot, from Crēta Crete.] * * * …   Universalium

  • cretic — adjective Referring to a metrical pattern of poetry where each foot is composed of 3 syllables, the first and third of which are stressed and the second is unstressed. This pattern is very rare in English poetry. Example: In Shakespeares A… …   Wiktionary

  • Cretic (1903) — Cretic p1 Schiffsdaten …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • CRETIC — Cretici …   Abbreviations in Latin Inscriptions

  • cretic — [ kri:tɪk] noun Prosody a metrical foot containing one short or unstressed syllable between two long or stressed ones. Origin C16: from L. Creticus, from Gk Krētikos of Crete …   English new terms dictionary

  • cretic — cre·tic …   English syllables

  • cretic —   n. amphimacer …   Dictionary of difficult words

  • cretic — n. Prosody a foot containing one short or unstressed syllable between two long or stressed ones. Etymology: L Creticus f. Gk Kretikos (as CRETAN) …   Useful english dictionary

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