Greek prosody
Prosody is the theory and practice of versification.
Prosody
Greek poetry is based on syllable length, not on syllable stress, as in English. The two syllable lengths in Greek poetry are long and short. It is probable that in the natural spoken language there were also syllables of intermediate length, as in the first syllable of words such as τέκνα /tékna/ 'children', where a short vowel is followed by a plosive + liquid combination; but for poetic purposes such syllables were treated as either long or short. Thus in the opening speech of the play Oedipus Tyrannus, Sophocles treats the first syllable of τέκνα /tékna/ as long in line 1, but as short in line 6.Different kinds of poetry use different patterns of long and short syllables, known as meters. For example, the epic poems of Homer were composed using the pattern | – u u | – u u | – u u | – u u | – u u | – – |
It would appear that most Ancient Greek poetry, including the poems of Homer, was composed to be sung to music, and it is generally assumed by those who have reconstructed the surviving fragments of Greek music, such as the Seikilos epitaph, that a short syllable was sung to a short note, while the long syllables were sung to longer notes, or to a group of two or three short notes.
The word-accents in Greek poetry did not affect the meter, but contributed to the melody, in that syllables with an acute accent tended to be sung on a higher pitch, and those with a circumflex were sung on two notes, the first higher than the second.
Determining Quantity
There are rules that determine the length of any given syllable. A syllable is said to be "long by nature" if it contains a long vowel or a diphthong:- η and ω are always long.
- α, ι, and υ can be either long or short.
- αι, αυ, ει, ευ, οι, ου, ηυ, υι, ᾳ, ῃ and ῳ are either diphthongs or in some cases represent long vowels written as a digraph.
The final syllable of a line, even if short by nature, is, if the relevant hypothesis is accepted, generally considered long, as in the opening line of Euripides' play The Bacchae:
- ἥκω Διὸς παῖς τήνδε Θηβαίων χθόνα
| – – u – | – – u – | – – u – |
"I, the son of Zeus, have come to this land of the Thebans"
An exception to the brevis in longo rule is occasionally found in lyric poetry when lines sometimes form a continuous system without a pause between one line and the next, for example Aristophanes, Birds 333.
When a single consonant comes between two vowels, such as in the word χθόνα, the consonant is deemed to start the second syllable: χθό-να. A syllable ending in a vowel, like χθό-, is called an "open syllable". Note that ζ, ξ and ψ count as two consonants, and a word like ἄξιος is divided into syllables as ak-si-os, with the first syllable closed. A short syllable is a syllable which is open and which has a short vowel, such as khtho- or di-.
If a word ends in a short vowel + consonant, such as ἄξιος, the final syllable will be treated as long by position if the next word starts with a consonant; but if the next word starts with a vowel, the consonant will be taken as part of the next syllable and the final syllable of the word will be considered short, for example ἄξιός ἐστι, syllabified as ak-si-o-ses-ti.
Exceptions
- γμ, γν, δμ and δν will always make a long syllable even when preceded by a short vowel, e.g. Κάδμος 'Cadmus'.
- In epic and elegiac poetry, a long vowel or diphthong at the end of a word preceding a vowel is usually shortened, e.g. ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε 'tell me of the man', which is scanned | – u u | – u u |. This is called "Epic Correption." Correption is also sometimes found within a word, e.g. ὑιός u –, τουτουί – u –.
Metrical feet
Disyllables
notation: – = long syllable; ᴗ = short syllable.| pattern | name |
| ᴗ ᴗ | pyrrhus, dibrach |
| ᴗ – | iamb // |
| – ᴗ | trochee/ //, choree |
| – – | spondee |
Trisyllables
Tetrasyllables
Non-lyric meters
Non-lyric meters are those used for narrative, funeral elegies, the dialogue of tragedies, pastoral poetry, and didactic poetry. A characteristic of these metres is that every line is the same length throughout the poem.Dactylic
Hexameter
The earliest Greek poetry, namely the poems ascribed to Homer and Hesiod, is written in dactylic hexameters, of which the basic scheme is as follows:In this meter any of the pairs of short syllables can be replaced by a long syllable, although this is rare in the fifth foot.
The opening lines of Homer's epic poem the Iliad are scanned as follows:
In order to accommodate the words to the meter, Homer often varies them. Thus in the above extract, the final two vowels of Πηληϊάδεω are merged into one by synizesis, the first vowel of ὀλομένην "destructive" is lengthened to make οὐλομένην, the name "Achilles" is sometimes pronounced with a double and sometimes with a single "l" Ἀχιλλεύς, Ἀχιλῆος, and so on. He also uses the past tense of verbs sometimes with the augment ἐ-, e.g. ἔθηκε, and sometimes without it, e.g. τεῦχε.
The line is divided into six feet, known as dactyls and spondees. In this opening passage of the Iliad, dactyls and spondees are equally common, although overall in Greek hexameters, the dactylic foot is slightly more common, while in Latin hexameters the spondee is more common. The fifth foot in Greek hexameters is nearly always a dactyl; in Homer only 1 line in 18 has a spondaic fifth foot. Because the final syllable in a line is long by position, the last foot is always a spondee.
Often there is a slight pause in the line, known as a caesura, in the middle of the third foot, as in lines 1, 5, and 6 above. However, for variety the position of the caesura can change, for example to the middle of the 2nd foot, as in lines 2 and 4, or the middle of the 4th foot, as in lines 3 and 7. There is never a word-break exactly in the middle of the line, although pastoral poetry often makes a word-break between the 4th and 5th foot, known as a "bucolic caesura".
Elegiac couplet
The dactylic hexameter is also used for short epigrams, such as Simonides' epigram commemorating the Spartans who died in the battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC. In this case it is joined with a pentameter, consisting of two sections of two and a half feet each. The second half of a pentameter always has | – u u | – u u | – |, without variation.The dactylic hexameter-pentameter couplet was also used for elegies and later, in writers such as Callimachus in the Hellenistic period, for poems about love.
Iambic
Tragic trimeter
Another very common meter, which is used in the dialogues of Greek plays, is the iambic trimeter. The basic scheme for this is as follows :The group | x – u – | is known as a "metron", consisting of two feet. In the first and second metron, one of the two long syllables may be replaced by two short ones, making the following possible variations:
Occasionally also, especially to accommodate a proper name, as in lines 2 and 3 of the example below, the anceps syllable may be replaced by two shorts:
Unlike most other kinds of Greek poetry, it appears that the iambic trimeter was used for dialogue unaccompanied by music.
The opening lines of Euripides' play the Bacchae are scanned as follows :
Comic trimeter
The iambic trimeter is also the basic meter used in the dialogue parts of Greek comedies, such as the plays of Aristophanes and Menander. In comedy there tend to be more resolutions into short syllables than in tragedy, and Porson's Law is not observed. Sometimes even a short element can be replaced by two short syllables, making for example:However, the last foot of the line is always an iamb: |.... u – |.
As an example of the comic version of the iambic trimeter, here are the opening lines of Aristophanes' play Lysistrata. A short element is resolved in lines 2, 4, 6, and 7; Porson's Law is broken in lines 1, 7 and 8:
Iambic tetrameter
Other meters are also used for the dialogues of comedies, especially when there is a change of pace or mood. One such meter is the iambic tetrameter. This metre is generally catalectic, that is, the last syllable is removed; since the final syllable of a line always counts as long, in catalexis the formerly short penultimate is changed to a long when it becomes final, as in this extract from Aristophanes play the Clouds :In Roman comedies this meter is known as the Iambic septenarius. There is often a break between the two halves of the line, but as the above example shows, this is not always found.
Trochaic
Occasionally, as an alternative to iambic, Greek playwrights use trochaic feet, as in the trochaic tetrameter catalectic. According to Aristotle this was the original meter used in satyr plays. In the extant plays, it is more often used in comedy, although occasionally also in tragedy. The basic double foot or metron is | – u – x |. Here is an example from Aristophanes' Clouds, where the leader of the chorus of Clouds addresses the audience:When used in tragedy, there is always a break in the middle of the line, but as can be seen above, this is not always the case in comedy.
This metre is also frequently used in Roman comedies, where it is known as the Trochaic septenarius.
Some authors analyse this catalectic form of the meter not as trochaic but as iambic, with initial not final catalexis.
In general, however, ancient writers seem to have recognised that trochaic meters had a different character from iambic. The name "trochaic" is derived from the Greek verb τρέχω "I run" and it was considered a livelier and faster rhythm than the iambic.