Amphibrach
Appearance
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Disyllables | |
---|---|
◡ ◡ | pyrrhic, dibrach |
◡ – | iamb |
– ◡ | trochee, choree |
– – | spondee |
Trisyllables | |
◡ ◡ ◡ | tribrach |
– ◡ ◡ | dactyl |
◡ – ◡ | amphibrach |
◡ ◡ – | anapaest, antidactylus |
◡ – – | bacchius |
– ◡ – | cretic, amphimacer |
– – ◡ | antibacchius |
– – – | molossus |
See main article for tetrasyllables. | |
An amphibrach /ˈæmfibræk/ is a metrical foot used in Latin and Greek prosody. It consists of a long syllable between two short syllables[1]. The word comes from the Greek ἀμφίβραχυς, amphíbrakhys, "short on both sides".
In English accentual-syllabic poetry, an amphibrach is a stressed syllable surrounded by two unstressed syllables. It is rarely used as the overall meter of a poem, usually appearing only in a small amount of humorous poetry, children's poetry, and experimental poems. The individual amphibrachic foot often appears as a variant within, for instance, anapaestic meter.
Amphibrachs are a staple meter of Russian poetry.
References
- ^ Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 9.4.81.