Amphibrach
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2008) |
| 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.
It is the main foot used in the construction of the limerick, as in "There once was / a girl from / Nantucket." It was also used by the Victorians for narrative poetry, e.g. Samuel Woodworth's "The Old Oaken Bucket" beginning "How dear to / my heart are / the scenes of / my childhood." [2] W.H. Auden's "Oh Where Are You Going" is a more recent and slightly less metrically-regular example. The amphibrach is also often used in ballads and light verse, such as the hypermetrical lines of Sir John Betjeman's "Meditation on the A30".
Amphibrachs are a staple meter of Russian poetry. A common variation in an amphibrachic line, in both Russian and English, is to end the line with an iamb, as Thomas Hardy does in "The Ruined Maid": "Oh did n't / you know I'd / been ru in'd / said she". [3]
Some books by Dr. Seuss contain many lines written in amphibrachs, such as these from If I Ran the Circus:
- All ready / to put up / the tents for / my circus.
- I think I / will call it / the Circus / McGurkus.
- And NOW comes / an act of / Enormous / Enormance!
- No former / performer's / performed this / performance!
Much of Leonard Cohen's song "Famous Blue Raincoat" [4] is written in amphibrachs - e.g. the first verse (apart from the first foot of the third line, which is a spondee):
- It's four in / the morning, / the end of / December
- I'm writing / you now just / to see if / you're better
- New York / is cold, but / I like where / I'm living
- There's music / on Clinton / Street all through / the evening.
References
- ^ Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 9.4.81.
- ^ Finch, Annie. A Poet's Craft. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2012, p. 407
- ^ Finch, Annie, A Poet's Craft. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2012, p. 406
- ^ Leonard Cohen's official website