metrical foot
The foot is the basic repeating metre (poetry), rhythmic unit that forms part of a line of poetry, verse in most Indo-European languages, Indo-European traditions of poetry, including English accentual-syllabic verse and the quantitative meter of ...
used in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
long syllable
In linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segments in the rime. In classical Indo-European verse, as developed in Greek, Sanskrit, and Latin, distinctions of syllable ...
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
ἀμφίβραχυς, ''amphíbrakhys'', "short on both sides".
In English accentual-syllabic poetry, an amphibrach is a stressed syllable surrounded by two unstressed syllables. It is rarely used as the overall meter of a poem, usually appearing only in a small amount of humorous poetry, children's poetry, and experimental poems. The individual amphibrachic foot often appears as a variant within, for instance,
anapaest
An anapaest (; also spelled anapæst or anapest, also called antidactylus) is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. In classical quantitative meters it consists of two short syllables followed by a long one; in accentual stress meters it consist ...
ic meter.
It is the main foot used in the construction of the
limerick
Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...
, as in "There once was / a girl from / Nantucket." It was also used by the Victorians for narrative poetry, e.g. Samuel Woodworth's poem "The Old Oaken Bucket" (1817) beginning "How dear to / my heart are / the scenes of / my childhood."
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...
's poem "O where are you going?" (1931) is a more recent and slightly less metrically-regular example. The amphibrach is also often used in ballads and light verse, such as the hypermetrical lines of
Sir John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...
's poem "Meditation on the A30" (1966).
Amphibrachs are a staple meter of Russian poetry. A common variation in an amphibrachic line, in both Russian and English, is to end the line with an iamb, as
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...
does in " The Ruined Maid" (1901): "Oh did n't / you know I'd / been ru in'd / said she".
Some books by
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss" '' If I Ran the Circus'' (1956):
:All ready / to put up / the tents for / my circus.
:I think I / will call it / the Circus / McGurkus.
:And NOW comes / an act of / Enormous / Enormance!
:No former / performer's / performed this / performance!
Much of
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...
's song "
Famous Blue Raincoat
"Famous Blue Raincoat" is a song by Leonard Cohen. It is the sixth track on his third album, ''Songs of Love and Hate'', released in 1971. The song is written in the form of a letter (many of the lines are written in amphibrachs). The lyric tells ...
" (1971)
is written in amphibrachs - e.g. the first verse (apart from the first foot of the third line, which is a
spondee
A spondee (Latin: ) is a metrical foot consisting of two long syllables, as determined by syllable weight in classical meters, or two stressed syllables in modern meters. The word comes from the Greek , , 'libation'.
Spondees in Ancient Greek ...
):
:It's four in / the morning, / the end of / December
:I'm writing / you now just / to see if / you're better
:New York / is cold, but / I like where / I'm living
:There's music / on Clinton / Street all through / the evening.
Amphibrachic metre is very popular in Polish literature. It can be found in romantic poetry in some works by
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...
and
Juliusz Słowacki
Juliusz Słowacki (; french: Jules Slowacki; 4 September 1809 – 3 April 1849) was a Polish Romantic poet. He is considered one of the "Three Bards" of Polish literature — a major figure in the Polish Romantic period, and the father of mode ...
. The best known example is "Deszcz jesienny" (English: "Autumn rain"; 1908) by
Leopold Staff
Leopold Henryk Staff (November 14, 1878 – May 31, 1957) was a Polish poet; an artist of European modernism twice granted the Degree of Doctor honoris causa by universities in Warsaw and in Kraków. He was also nominated for the Nobel Prize i ...
. Amfibrachus is believed to be suitable for lullabies. Usually Polish amphibrachic lines have feminine ending (for example the
tetrametre
In poetry, a tetrameter is a line of four metrical feet. The particular foot can vary, as follows:
* ''Anapestic tetrameter:''
** "And the ''sheen'' of their ''spears'' was like ''stars'' on the ''sea''" (Lord Byron, "The Destruction of Sennacher ...
"sSssSssSssSs") but some poets experiment with masculine lines as well. In the poem "Walc" (English: "Waltz") from
Czesław Miłosz
Czesław Miłosz (, also , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation ...
's 1945 collection ''
Ocalenie
''Ocalenie'' ("Rescue") is a poetry collection by Czesław Miłosz. It was first published in 1945. Many of the poems collected were written in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Eur ...
'' the first line is "sSssSssSssSs", and the second "sSssSssSssS", and so on.
Jan Bolesław Ożóg
Jan Bolesław Ożóg (1 March 1913 in Nienadówka – 1 March 1991 in Kraków) was a Polish writer, poet and translator. He was born into the family of a village church organist. His first university studies were in theology, but later he ch ...
experimented with irregular amphibrachic verse with different number of feet in succeeding lines. An example of this way of making verse is the poem ''Jemioła'' (''Mistletoe''), included in the book with the same title (1966).
Modern examples
In modern rap music, the group
Migos
Migos () is an American hip hop trio from Lawrenceville, Georgia, founded in 2008. The group was originally composed of Southern rappers Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset. Quavo is from Athens, Georgia; Offset and Takeoff were born and raised in Law ...
has popularized rhyming in triplets and often do so in amphibrachs. On their 2013 hit " Versace",
Quavo
Quavious Keyate Marshall (born April 2, 1991), known professionally as Quavo (), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. He is best known as the co-founder and former frontman of hip hop group Migos. Quavo is the uncle of late fellow Migos m ...
raps "Versace" as an amphibrach and expands on it throughout the verse:
Versace / Versace / Medusa / head on me / like I'm 'Lum / inati
I know that / you like it / Versace / my neck and / my wrist is / so sloppy
Versace / Versace / I love it / Versace / the top of / my Audi
My plug is / John Gotti / he give me / the ducks and / I know that / they mighty