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Amphimacer dimeter

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 line consisting of two amphimacers (cretic feet), each with a stressed-unstressed-stressed pattern

Detailed Definition
Amphimacer dimeter is a metrical line consisting of two amphimacers, also known as cretic feet. Each amphimacer follows a stressed-unstressed-stressed pattern (or long-short-long in quantitative verse). This creates a line with six syllables total, arranged in two symmetrical units that produce a distinctive rising-falling-rising rhythm. The pattern can be marked as ′ ˘ ′ | ′ ˘ ′. While relatively rare in English poetry due to the language's natural stress patterns, amphimacer dimeter can create a balanced, almost ceremonial effect when employed, often lending gravity or formality to the verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
Amphimacer dimeter (stressed-unstressed-stressed, twice per line) appears in nursery rhymes like “Hickory dickory dock”; Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” uses amphimacer dimeter in chanted refrains: “Water, water, every where”; In “Jabberwocky,” Carroll’s “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!” approximates amphimacer rhythm for incantatory effect; W.H. Auden’s “As I Walked Out One Evening” employs amphimacer dimeter in its rhythmic warnings: “Time watches from the shadow”; Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night” uses amphimacer-like stress patterns in its villanelle refrains.
Additional Notes
Amphimacer dimeter is a metrical line of two amphimacers (long-short-long or stressed-unstressed-stressed); rare in English but used for rhythmic emphasis or archaic effect.
Also Known As
Cretic dimeter Two-foot amphimacer Double-cretic line Two-foot cretic
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