Prosody (Greek)

Prosody

Greek meters are based on patterns and arrangement of syllable quantity, not on syllable stress, as in English meter. The two syllable quantities in Greek are long and short.

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 vowels.

α, ι, and υ may or may not be long in any given word.

αι, αυ, ει, ευ, οι, ου, ηυ, υι, ᾳ, ῃ and ῳ are the diphthongs.

A syllable is said to be "long by position" if the vowel precedes a double consonant or certain consonant clusters. A consonant cluster of two consonants will not necessarily produce a long syllable if those two consonants are a plosive followed by a liquid or a nasal. A vowel preceding a vowel or a single consonant is sometimes said to produce an "open syllable;" a vowel preceding more than one consonant, or a double consonant, is sometimes said to produce a "closed syllable."

ζ, ξ and ψ are the double consonants.

π, β, φ, τ, δ, φ, κ, γ and χ are the plosives.

λ and ρ are the liquids.

μ and ν are the nasals

Exceptions

γμ, γν, δμ and δν will always produce a long syllable.

A long vowel or diphthong preceding a vowel may be short. This is called "Epic Correption."

When -οι or -αι appear as the last syllable of a word, they may be short, but are always long in optative verbs

Metrical Feet

Metrical feet are patterns of long and short syllables from which the meters are built, or with which they can be described.

Macron and breve notation: = long syllable, = short syllable

Doric

Two elements comprise Doric Verse, the one dactylic, the other epitrite. The dactylic metron is called the Prosodiac and is variable in the number of dactyls that proceed the final spondee or long syllable. Thus it is represented as,

¯ ˘˘ ¯ ˘˘ ¯⁽¯⁾

or

¯ ˘˘ ¯ ˘˘ ¯ ˘˘ ¯⁽¯⁾

or

¯ ˘˘ ¯⁽¯⁾

The epitrite is represented as

¯ ˘ ¯ ¯

For example:

μηδάμ᾽ ὁ πάντα νέμων | θεῖτ᾽ ἐμᾷ γνώ | μᾳ κράτος ἀντίπαλον Ζεύς,

Prosodiac | Epitrite | Prosodiac

μηδ᾽ ἐλινύ | σαιμι θεοὺς ὁσίαις θοί | ναις ποτινισσομένα

Epitrite | Prosodiac | Prosodiac

βουφόνοις παρ᾽ | Ὠκεανοῦ πατρὸς ἄσβεσ | τον πόρον,

Epitrite | Prosodiac | Epitrite

μηδ᾽ ἀλίτοιμι λόγοις: | ἀλλά μοι τόδ᾽ | ἐμμένοι καὶ | μήποτ᾽ ἐκτακείη ( A. Pr. 542-51)

Prosodiac | Epitrite | Epitrite | Epitrite

Ionic

The basic unit of the Ionic meter is the minor Ionic foot, also called Ionic a minore or double iamb, which consists of two short and two long syllables. An Ionic line consists of two of these feet:

˘ ˘ ¯ ¯ | ˘ ˘ ¯ ¯ , Διονύσου | χάριν οἴνας (E. Ba. 535)

The process of anaclasis, the substitution for a long for a short or a short for a long, yields a second pattern called Anacreontic:

˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ | ¯ ˘ ¯ ¯ , στεφανηφό | ρους ἀπωθῇ (E. Ba. 531)

Ananclasis can also produce choriambs from the ionic a minore:

¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ | ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ , δεινὰ μὲν οὖν, | δεινὰ ταρά (S. OT. 483)

Beyond these more common examples, a great amount of variation is possible within the Ionic meter because of anaclasis, catalexis, resolution and syncopation.

Aeolic

The Aeolic meter, also called Logaoedic, is built upon two kinds of lines, the Gylconic and the Pherecratic. Both have the choriamb as their nucleus. The Glyconic can be represented as follows:

⁽¯^{) x |} ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ^{| x} ¯ , ξανθὴ | παῖ Διός, | ἀγρί | ων (Anacr. I.2)

The Pherecratic:

¯ ^{x |} ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ^| ¯ , δεσποιν' | Ἂρτεμι θη | ρῶν (Anacr. I.3)

Because the feet within the lines may move, and because of catalexis and resolution, a great number of patterns arises, some of which are named and organized here:

Paeonic

The Paeonic meter is based primarily on two kinds of feet, the Cretic:

¯ ˘ ¯

and the Bacchius:

˘ ¯ ¯

By resolving the longs of these two feet, one may produce an additional two feet, named for the position of their long syllable, the First Paeon:

¯ ˘ ˘ ˘

and the Fourth Paeon:

˘ ˘ ˘ ¯

Furthermore, adding an iamb to any of these creates a dochmiac. From the Cretic and the Bacchius, the Slow Dochmiachs:

˘ ¯ ¯ ˘ ¯ and ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ¯

and the Fast Dochmiachs:

^x ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ and ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ˘ ¯

Vocabulary

Anaclasis – an interchange of the final long syllable of the first metron with the opening short syllable of the second.

Catalexis – Absence of a syllable in the last foot of a verse.

Metron – Each of a series of identical or equivalent units, defined according to the number and length of syllables, into which the rhythm of a line of a particular metre is divided.

Resolution – The substitution of two short syllables for a single long one; the result of such a substitution.

Syncopation – Suppression of a short or anceps