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Alcmanic meter

Meter
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The choral meter of Alcman’s verse, emphasizing varied foot patterns.

Detailed Definition
Alcmanic meter specifically denotes the dactylic tetrameter catalectic pattern favored by the poet Alcman, consisting of fourteen syllables arranged as four dactyls with the final syllable omitted. This creates a line that flows with three complete dactylic feet before ending abruptly on a stressed syllable. The meter's combination of rhythmic momentum and sudden closure made it particularly effective for choral performance and became influential in Greek lyric tradition.
Example
Example in poetry:
Alcmanic meter blends glyconic (x x – u u – u –) and pherecratean (x x – u u – –) lines; Used in Greek partheneia (maiden-songs) for ritual performance; Difficult to replicate in English stress-based prosody; Scholars like M.L. West reconstruct its musicality from fragments; Contemporary poets reference it symbolically for lost female voices.
Additional Notes
Alcmanic meter is a quantitative meter often found in choral poetry; a common form is the Alcmanic strophe, a distich (two-line stanza) consisting of a dactylic hexameter followed by a dactylic tetrameter.
Also Known As
Alcmanic scansion Alcman rhythm Doric lyric meter
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