"Pedes" redirects here. For the ancient Roman unit of length, see Pes (unit).
Greek and Latin metre
Greek prosody
Latin prosody
Dactylic hexameter
Elegiac couplet
Alcmanian verse
Archilochian
Latin rhythmic hexameter
Iambic trimeter
Saturnian (poetry)
Metres of Roman comedy
Trochaic septenarius
Hendecasyllable
Choliamb
Aeolic verse
Choriamb
Glyconic
Asclepiad (poetry)
Sapphic stanza
Alcaic stanza
Ionic metre
Anacreontics
Galliambic verse
Sotadean metre
Dochmiac
Lekythion
Anaclasis (poetry)
Metrical foot
Metron (poetry)
Brevis in longo
Anceps
Biceps (prosody)
Resolution (meter)
Brevis brevians
Porson's Law
Arsis and thesis
Catalexis
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The foot is the basic repeating rhythmic unit that forms part of a line of verse in most Indo-European traditions of poetry, including English accentual-syllabic verse and the quantitative meter of classical ancient Greek and Latin poetry. The unit is composed of syllables, and is usually two, three, or four syllables in length. The most common feet in English are the iamb, trochee, dactyl, and anapaest.[1] The foot might be compared to a bar, or a beat divided into pulse groups, in musical notation.
The English word "foot" is a translation of the Latin term pes, plural pedes, which in turn is a translation of the Ancient Greek πούς, pl. πόδες. The Ancient Greek prosodists, who invented this terminology, specified that a foot must have both an arsis and a thesis,[2] that is, a place where the foot was raised ("arsis") and where it was put down ("thesis") in beating time or in marching or dancing. The Greeks recognised three basic types of feet, the iambic (where the ratio of arsis to thesis was 1:2), the dactylic (where it was 2:2) and the paeonic (where it was 3:2).[3]
Lines of verse are classified according to the number of feet they contain, e.g. pentameter. However some lines of verse are not considered to be made up of feet, e.g. hendecasyllable.
In some kinds of metre, such as the Greek iambic trimeter, two feet are combined into a larger unit called a metron (pl. metra) or dipody.
The foot is a purely metrical unit; there is no inherent relation to a word or phrase as a unit of meaning or syntax, though the interplay between these is an aspect of the poet's skill and artistry.[citation needed]
^Baldick, Chris (2008). The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-923891-0.
^Pearson, Lionel (1990) Aristoxenes: Elementa Rhythmica (Oxford), p. 29.
^Pearson, Lionel (1990) Aristoxenes: Elementa Rhythmica (Oxford), pp. 25, 27.
into a larger unit called a metron (pl. metra) or dipody. The foot is a purely metrical unit; there is no inherent relation to a word or phrase as a unit...
verse. Metres are influenced by syllables and their "weight" Metricalfoot (aka poetic foot): the basic repeating rhythmic unit that forms part of a line...
In poetic metre, a trochee (/ˈtroʊkiː/) is a metricalfoot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one, in qualitative meter, as found...
are implied from measurements in 12c." The word "foot" also has a musical meaning; a "...metricalfoot (late Old English, translating Latin pes, Greek...
-pɛst/; also spelled anapæst or anapest, also called antidactylus) is a metricalfoot used in formal poetry. In classical quantitative meters it consists...
(/ˈpɪrɪk/; Greek: πυρρίχιος pyrrichios, from πυρρίχη pyrrichē) is a metricalfoot used in formal poetry. It consists of two unaccented, short syllables...
In poetry, a monometer is a line of verse with just one metricalfoot. Monometer can be exemplified by this portion of Robert Herrick's poem "Upon His...
A spondee (Latin: spondeus) is a metricalfoot consisting of two long syllables, as determined by syllable weight in classical meters, or two stressed...
customarily grouped according to a characteristic metricalfoot and the number of feet per line. The number of metrical feet in a line are described using Greek...
In Latin, lines were arranged so that the metrically long syllables—those occurring at the beginning of a foot—often avoided the natural stress of a word...
an arrangement of the Fibonacci numbers, and "Jambi", in which the metricalfoot iamb is used. Keenan's lyrics on Ænima and Lateralus focused on philosophy...
An amphibrach (/ˈæmfɪbræk/) is a metricalfoot used in Latin and Greek prosody. It consists of a long syllable between two short syllables. The word comes...
intention to write epic poetry, which is thwarted when Cupid steals a metricalfoot from him, changing his work into love elegy. Poem 4 is didactic and...
Metrical phonology is a theory of stress or linguistic prominence. The innovative feature of this theory is that the prominence of a unit is defined relative...
or caesurae; Latin for "cutting"), also written cæsura and cesura, is a metrical pause or break in a verse where one phrase ends and another phrase begins...
iambic trimeter derives its name from its essential shape, which is three metrical units (hence "trimeter") which are each basically iambic in form. The iambic...
or practice of determining and (usually) graphically representing the metrical pattern of a line of verse. In classical poetry, these patterns are quantitative...
An acatalectic line of verse is one having the metrically complete number of syllables in the final foot. accent Any noun used to describe the stress put...
dog Molossus of Epirus, a Greek dog breed Molossus (poetry), type of metricalfoot Molossus (son of Neoptolemus), in Greek mythology, the son of Neoptolemus...
determined by metrical rules that define a characteristic iambic metricalfoot, in which a weak syllable is followed by a strong syllable. A foot consists...
asai. •Sīr or cīr: Sīr is the metricalfoot in Tamil poetry. •Thalai(lit. binding): The juxtaposition of metricalfoot patterns. Note that the official...
u u – u – – – u – x – u u – u – x – u u – – While Sappho used several metrical forms for her poetry, she is most famous for the Sapphic stanza. Her poems...
texts. They are classified according to their position within the pada (metricalfoot): ādiprāsa (first syllable), dvitīyākṣara prāsa (second syllable), antyaprāsa...
Aristophanes, where they are often paratragic in tone and impassioned. The base metrical scheme is: ‿ — — ‿ —, although any of the long syllables may be resolved...
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