In poetry, a hendecasyllable (sometimes hendecasyllabic) is a line of eleven syllables. The term may refer to several different poetic meters, the older of which are quantitative and used chiefly in classical ( Ancient Greek and Latin) poetry, and the newer of which are syllabic or accentual-syllabic and used in medieval and modern poetry.

Classical

In classical poetry, "hendecasyllable" or "hendecasyllabic" may refer to any of three distinct 11-syllable Aeolic meters, used first in Ancient Greece and later, with little modification, by Roman poets. Aeolic meters are characterized by an Aeolic base × × followed by a choriamb – u u –; where –=a long syllable, u=a short syllable, and ×=an anceps, that is, a syllable either long or short. The three Aeolic hendecasyllables (with base and choriamb in bold) are: Phalaecian ( la, hendecasyllabus phalaecius): × × – u u – u – u – – This is a line used only occasionally in Greek choral odes and scolia, but a favorite of Catullus who realized the Aeolic base as – – or – × or × –, but not as × ×; for example, in the first poem in his collection (with formal equivalent, substituting English stress for Latin length): Alcaic ( la, hendecasyllabus alcaicus): × – u – × – u u – u – Here the Aeolic base is truncated to a single anceps. This meter typically appears as the first two lines of an Alcaic stanza. (For an English example, see §English, below.) Sapphic ( la, hendecasyllabus sapphicus): – u – × – u u – u – – Again, the Aeolic base is truncated. This meter typically appears as the first three lines of a Sapphic stanza, though it has served in stichic verse, for example by Seneca and Boethius.

Sappho Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...

wrote many of the stanzas subsequently named after her, for example (with formal equivalent, substituting English stress for Greek length):

Italian

The hendecasyllable ( it, endecasillabo) is the principal metre in Italian poetry. Its defining feature is a constant stress on the tenth syllable, so that the number of syllables in the verse may vary, equaling eleven in the usual case where the final word is stressed on the penultimate syllable. The verse also has a stress preceding the caesura, on either the fourth or sixth syllable. The first case is called ''endecasillabo a minore'', or lesser hendecasyllable, and has the first hemistich equivalent to a '' quinario''; the second is called ''endecasillabo a maiore'', or greater hendecasyllable, and has a '' settenario'' as the first hemistich.Claudio Ciociola (2010
"Endecasillabo"
''Enciclopedia dell'Italiano'' (in Italian). Accessed March 2013. There is a strong tendency for hendecasyllabic lines to end with feminine rhymes (causing the total number of syllables to be eleven, hence the name), but ten-syllable lines (''"Ciò che 'n grembo a Benaco star non può"'') and twelve-syllable lines (''"Ergasto mio, perché solingo e tacito"'') are encountered as well. Lines of ten or twelve syllables are more common in rhymed verse; '' versi sciolti'', which rely more heavily on a pleasant rhythm for effect, tend toward a stricter eleven-syllable format. As a novelty, lines longer than twelve syllables can be created by the use of certain verb forms and affixed enclitic pronouns (''"Ottima è l'acqua; ma le piante abbeverinosene."''). Additional accents beyond the two mandatory ones provide rhythmic variation and allow the poet to express thematic effects. A line in which accents fall consistently on even-numbered syllables (''"Al còr gentìl rempàira sèmpre amóre"'') is called iambic (''giambico'') and may be a greater or lesser hendecasyllable. This line is the simplest, commonest and most musical but may become repetitive, especially in longer works. Lesser hendecasyllables often have an accent on the seventh syllable (''"fàtta di giòco in figùra d'amóre"''). Such a line is called dactylic (''dattilico'') and its less pronounced rhythm is considered particularly appropriate for representing dialogue. Another kind of greater hendecasyllable has an accent on the third syllable (''"Se Mercé fosse amìca a' miei disìri"'') and is known as anapestic (''anapestico''). This sort of line has a crescendo effect and gives the poem a sense of speed and fluidity. It is considered improper for the lesser hendecasyllable to use a word accented on its antepenultimate syllable (''parola sdrucciola'') for its mid-line stress. A line like ''"Più non sfavìllano quegli òcchi néri"'', which delays the caesura until after the sixth syllable, is not considered a valid hendecasyllable. Most classical Italian poems are composed in hendecasyllables, including the major works of Dante, Francesco Petrarca,

Ludovico Ariosto Ludovico Ariosto (; 8 September 1474 – 6 July 1533) was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic ''Orlando Furioso'' (1516). The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's ''Orlando Innamorato'', describes the ...

, and Torquato Tasso. The rhyme systems used include terza rima, ottava,

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...

and canzone, and some verse forms use a mixture of hendecasyllables and shorter lines. From the early 16th century onward, hendecasyllables are often used without a strict system, with few or no rhymes, both in poetry and in drama. This is known as ''verso sciolto''. An early example is ''Le Api'' ("the bees") by Giovanni di Bernardo Rucellai, written around 1517 and published in 1525 (with formal equivalent paraphrase which mirrors the original's syllabic counts, varied caesurae, and line- and hemistich-final stress profiles): Like other early Italian-language tragedies, the ''Sophonisba'' of Gian Giorgio Trissino (1515) is in blank hendecasyllables. Later examples can be found in the ''Canti'' of Giacomo Leopardi, where hendecasyllables are alternated with ''settenari''.

Polish

The hendecasyllabic metre ( pl, jedenastozgłoskowiec) was very popular in Polish poetry, especially in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, owing to strong Italian literary influence. It was used by Jan Kochanowski,Compare: Summary n:Lucylla Pszczołowska, Wiersz polski. Zarys historyczny, Wrocław 1997, p. 398. Piotr Kochanowski (who translated '' Jerusalem Delivered'' by Torquato Tasso), Sebastian Grabowiecki,

Wespazjan Kochowski Wespazjan (Vespasian) Kochowski (coat of arms: Nieczuja) (1633 in Gaj, a village which no longer exists, near Waśniów in Sandomierz Land – June 6, 1700 in Kraków) was one of the most noted historians and poets of Polish Baroque, the mo ...

and

Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski Prince Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski a.k.a. "Mirobulius Tassalinus" (4 March 1642 – 17 January 1702) was a Polish noble, politician, patron of the arts and writer. Biography Lubomirski was the son of Marshal and Hetman Jerzy Sebastia ...

. The greatest Polish Romantic poet, Adam Mickiewicz, set his poem

Grażyna Grażyna is a Polish feminine given name. The name was created by the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz for the main character of his 1823 poem '' Grażyna''. The name is derived from the Lithuanian adjective ''gražus'', meaning "pretty", "beautiful". ...

in this measure. The Polish hendecasyllable is widely used when translating English blank verse. The eleven-syllable line is normally a line of 5+6 syllables with medial caesura, primary stresses on the fourth and tenth syllables, and feminine endings on both half-lines. Although the form can accommodate a fully iambic line, there is no such tendency in practice, word stresses falling variously on any of the initial syllables of each half-line. o o o S s , o o o o S s o=any syllable, S=stressed syllable, s=unstressed syllable A popular form of Polish literature that employs the hendecasyllable is the Sapphic stanza: 11/11/11/5. The Polish hendecasyllable is often combined with an 8-syllable line: 11a/8b/11a/8b. Such a stanza was used by Mickiewicz in his ballads, as in the following example (with formal equivalent paraphrase):

Portuguese

The hendecasyllable ( pt, hendecassílabo) is a common meter in Portuguese poetry. The best-known Portuguese poem composed in hendecasyllables is Luís de Camões' '' Lusiads'', which begins as follows: In Portuguese, the hendecasyllable meter is often called "decasyllable" (''decassílabo''), even when the work in question uses overwhelmingly feminine rhymes (as is the case with the ''Lusiads''). This is due to Portuguese prosody considering verses to end at the last stressed syllable, thus the aforementioned verses are effectively decasyllabic according to Portuguese scansion.

Spanish

The hendecasyllable ( es, endecasílabo) is less pervasive in

Spanish poetry This article concerns poetry in Spain. Medieval Spain The Medieval period covers 400 years of different poetry texts and can be broken up into five categories. Primitive lyrics Since the findings of the Kharjas, which are mainly two, three, o ...

than in Italian or Portuguese, but it is commonly used with Italianate verse forms like sonnets and ottava rima (as found, for example, in Alonso de Ercilla's epic '' La Araucana''). Spanish dramatists often use hendecasyllables in tandem with shorter lines like heptasyllables, as can be seen in Rosaura's opening speech from Calderón's '' La vida es sueño'':

English

The term "hendecasyllable" most often refers to an imitation of Greek or Latin metrical lines, notably by Alfred Tennyson,

Swinburne Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as ''Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...

, and

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloq ...

("For Once Then Something"). Contemporary American poets Annie Finch ("Lucid Waking") and Patricia Smith ("The Reemergence of the Noose") have published recent examples. In English, which lacks phonemic length, poets typically substitute stressed syllables for ''long'', and unstressed syllables for ''short''. Tennyson, however, attempted to maintain the quantitative features of the meter (while supporting them with concurrent stress) in his Alcaic stanzas, the first two lines of which are Alcaic hendecasyllables: Occasionally "hendecasyllable" is used to denote a line of iambic pentameter with a feminine ending, as in the first line of

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

's '' Endymion'': "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever".

References

{{reflist

Classical

Italian

Polish

Portuguese

Spanish

English

See also

References

Further reading

Italian texts

Polish texts