Lyric Meters

Level 6

Each lyric meter has a fixed number of syllables in every line.

How It Works

Meter	Lines	Pattern of the first line
hendecasyllable	one line, 11 syllables	two free syllables, a dactyl, then three trochees (long, short)
sapphic stanza	11, 11, 11 and 5	trochee, spondee, dactyl, trochee, trochee
alcaic stanza	11, 11, 9 and 10	free, long, short, long, free \| long, short, short, long, short, free

Catullus 5.1 has 13 syllables on the page. Two elisions (Lesbia atque and atque amemus) leave the 11 that the meter needs.

The sapphic stanza lived on in Church hymns. A later kind of hymn counts stresses and rhymes: see accentual rhyming verse in hymns.

Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus
Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love.
Catullus 5.1, a hendecasyllable. Two elisions bring the 13 syllables on the page down to 11.
Integer vitae scelerisque purus
Upright in life and free of crime
Horace, Odes 1.22.1, the first line of a sapphic stanza. The word vitae ends after the fifth syllable.
Non eget Mauris iaculis neque arcu
needs no Moorish javelins or bow
Horace, Odes 1.22.2, the second line of the same stanza. Neque arcu elides, which leaves 11 syllables.
Vides ut alta stet nive candidum
You see how Soracte stands white with deep snow
Horace, Odes 1.9.1, the first line of an alcaic stanza, 11 syllables.

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Lyric MetersLevel 6

The lyric meters count long and short syllables as the hexameter does, so scansion comes first.

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