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Amphimacer

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

A metrical foot of three syllables: stressed, unstressed, stressed.

Detailed Definition
An amphimacer, also known as a cretic, is a trisyllabic metrical foot with the stress pattern stressed-unstressed-stressed (DUM-da-DUM); though rare in English poetry, it appears in classical verse and can lend a solemn or ceremonial cadence when used deliberately for rhythmic contrast.
Example
Example in poetry:
Amphimacer (– u –) in Latin hymns like “Pange Lingua”; amphimacer appears in Greek dochmiac meters; rare in English but seen in Hopkins’s sprung rhythm variants; amphimacer creates rhythmic tension through long-short-long pattern
Additional Notes
Three-syllable foot: STRESSED-unstressed-STRESSED (DUM-da-DUM). Also called cretic. Rare in English. Creates strong, measured effect. Related to dactyl and trochee. Classical meter difficult to sustain in stress-based English.
Also Known As
Cretic foot Long-short-long Classical tribrach variant Three-syllable measure Cretic Long-short-long foot
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