Dactylic Hexameter

  • Dactylic Hexameter was considered by the Ancient Greeks and Romans to be the foremost method of recounting classical Epic Poetry.
  • In Dactylic Hexameter each foot contains three syllables, with six feet altogether, giving a total of eighteen syllables per line.

Works written in Dactylic Hexameter

Dactyl and Anapest

  • A dactyl consists of one stressed syllable  followed by two unstressed syllables.
  • The opposite of Dactyl is Anapest, which consists of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable

Dactylic Pentameter

  • Each foot contains three syllables, with five feet altogether, giving a total of fifteen syllables per line.

Double Dactylic

  • Each foot has three syllables, with two feet altogether, giving six syllables per line.
  • Three lines of this are followed by a fourth line, where each foot has two syllables, with two feet giving four syllables per line.
  • These four lines form a quatrain, which is then followed by another quatrain.

Iambic Pentameter

  • Used in traditional English poetry and drama, for example by William Shakespeare in his Plays.
  • An iamb has one stressed syllable and one unstressed syllable, with five iambs giving ten syllables per line.

 

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