Czech alexandrine (in Czech ''český alexandrín'') is a verse form found in Czech poetry of the 20th century. It is a metre based on French

alexandrine Alexandrine is a name used for several distinct types of verse line with related metrical structures, most of which are ultimately derived from the classical French alexandrine. The line's name derives from its use in the Medieval French ''Roman ...

. The most important features of the pattern are number of syllables (twelve or thirteen) and a caesura after the sixth syllable. It is an unusual metre, exhibiting characteristics of both

syllabic Syllabic may refer to: *Syllable, a unit of speech sound, considered the building block of words **Syllabic consonant, a consonant that forms the nucleus of a syllable *Syllabary, writing system using symbols for syllables *Abugida, writing system ...

and syllabotonic ( accentual-syllabic) metre. Thus it occupies a transitional position between syllabic and accentual patterns of European versification. It stands out from the background of modern Czech versification, which is modeled chiefly after German practice. The Czech alexandrine is also metrically ambiguous because of its accentuation, which can reflect the rhythms of iambic hexameter, dactylic tetrameter, and combinations thereof. Compared with iambic hexameter and dactylic tetrameter, the Czech alexandrine preserves ''all'' constants between the two, and allows the rhythms of ''either'' to emerge: iambic hexameter: s S s S s S , s S s S s S (s) dactylic tetrameter: S s s S s s , S s s S s s (s) Czech alexandrine: o o s S s o , o o s S s o (s) S=stressed syllable; s=unstressed syllable; o=either. The Czech alexandrine allows these two rhythms run parallel to each other; sometimes the first is stronger, other times the second. In

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

the first syllable of every lexical word or prepositional phrase is always stressed, so rhythmical units are: s, S, Ss, Sss, Ssss. A great advantage of the Czech alexandrine is that it can be built of any words (or phrases). A half-line can be composed of 1-syllable words (stressed or unstressed), 2-syllable words, 3-syllable words, and 4-syllable words. Possible combinations in the first half-line (with , separating words) include: s, Ss, Ss, S, s, Ss, Sss, Sss, Ss, S, Sss, Sss — for the second half-line: s, Ss, Ss, S, s, Ss, Sss, Sss, Ss, S, Sss, Sss, s, Ss, Ss, Ss, Sss, SsSs, s, Ss, Ssss, Sss, Ssss. Czech poets usually use both masculine and feminine alexandrine lines, but sometimes they choose to apply only one kind. The first poet to use the Czech alexandrine (in his 1836 poem "

Máj ''Máj'' (Czech for the month ''May''; ) is a romantic poem by Karel Hynek Mácha in four cantos. It was fiercely criticized when first published, but since then has gained the status of one of the most prominent works of Czech literature; in t ...

") was Karel Hynek Mácha, considered the greatest Czech poet. Although the discussed metre was theoretically fully iambic, he inserted many trisyllabic words into his lines: S s s S s s , S s s S s S V jezeru zeleném bílý je ptáků sbor, s S s S s S , s S s S s s s a lehkých člůnků běh i rychlé veslování The variation in rhythms can be heard in a formally equivalent paraphrase: "''Hrál kdosi na hoboj''" ("Somebody played oboe") by

Karel Hlaváček Karel Hlaváček (August 24, 1874 in Prague – June 15, 1898 in Prague) was a Czechs, Czech Symbolist poetry, Symbolist and Decadent movement, Decadent poet and artist. Hlaváček was born into a working class household in the Prague neighborhood ...

is a short poem in Czech alexandrines: Many poets used the Czech alexandrine in the 20th century, both in original works and in translations. Among them there were

Vítězslav Nezval Vítězslav Nezval (; 26 May 1900 – 6 April 1958) was a Czech poet, writer and translator. He was one of the most prolific avant-garde Czech writers in the first half of the 20th century and a co-founder of the Surrealist movement in Czechos ...

, Jiří Orten,

Ivan Blatný Ivan Blatný (; 21 December 1919 in Brno, Czechoslovakia – 5 August 1990 in Colchester, United Kingdom) was a Czech poet and a member of '' Skupina 42 (Group 42). Life Blatný, the son of the writer Lev Blatný, was a member of the ''Skupina 42' ...

Vladimír Holan Vladimír Holan (; September 16, 1905 – March 31, 1980) was a Czechoslovak poet famous for employing obscure language, dark topics and pessimistic views in his poems. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in the late 1960s. Life Holan was born ...

and Oldřich Vyhlídal. The caesura formula is a good base for enjambment. Sometimes a sentence runs from caesura to next caesura, as in "The Seventh Elegy" by Jiří Orten: Jiří Orten, "Sedmá elegie", lines 1-7.

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See also

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Further reading