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IAMBIC

Online Encyclopedia

Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 213 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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IAMBIC , the See also:

TERM

term employed in See also:

PROSODY (Gr. rpovwSta)

prosody to denote a See also:

SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession of verses, each consisting of a See also:

FOOT

foot or See also:

METRE ((terpuc?, sc. rFxvf, from Gr. Or poi', measure)

metre called an iambus iiaµ/3os). formed of two syllables, of which the first is See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short and the second See also:

long (. —). After the dactylic See also:

HEXAMETER

hexameter, the iambic t rimeter was the most popular metre of See also:

ancient See also:

GREECE

Greece. See also:

ARCHILOCHUS

Archilochus is said to have been the inventor of this iambic See also:

VERSE (from Lat. versus, literally a line or furrow drawn by turning the plough, from vertere, and afterwards signifying an arrangement of syllables into feet)

verse, the rpi/.Lrpos consisting of three iambic feet. In the See also:

Greek tragedians an iambic See also:

LINE

line is formed of six feet arranged in obedience to the following See also:

SCHEME (Lat. schema, Gr. oxfjya, figure, form, from the root axe, seen in exeiv, to have, hold, to be of such shape, form, &c.)

scheme: V V V Much of the beauty of the verse depends on the See also:

CAESURA (Lat. for " cutting," Gr. row))

caesura, which is usually in the See also:

MIDDLE

middle of the third foot, and far less frequently in the middle of the See also:

FOURTH

fourth. The See also:

ENGLISH

English See also:

LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language runs more naturally in the iambic metre than in any other. The normal See also:

BLANK (from the Fr. blanc, white)

blank verse in English is founded upon an iambic basis, and See also:

Milton's line And swims or sinks 1 or wades or creeps or flies 1 — exhibits it in its See also:

PRIMITIVE

primitive See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form. The See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary alexandrine of See also:

French literature is a hexapod iambic, but in all questions of quantity in See also:

MODERN

modern prosody See also:

GREAT

great care has to be exercised to recollect that all ascriptions of classic names to modern forms of rhymed or blank verse are merely approximate. The octosyllabic, or four-foot iambic metre, has found great favour in English verse founded on old romances. Decasyllabic iambic lines rhyming together form an " heroic " metre.

End of Article: IAMBIC

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