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Antispastic hexameter

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 six-foot line composed entirely of antispastic feet (long-short-short-long)

Detailed Definition
Antispastic hexameter is a six-foot line built from antispastic feet (–uu–), an uncommon metrical form derived from ancient Greek experiments; it offers a syncopated, asymmetrical rhythm occasionally revived in 20th-century poetry seeking archaic or disruptive cadences.
Example
Example in poetry:
Antispastic hexameter: Six antispastic feet (– u u –) per line; a hypothetical example: “Fate moves through night and day with steady hand,” though this meter is virtually unused in practice.
Additional Notes
Six antispastic feet per line. Extremely rare meter with complex rocking rhythm. Difficult to sustain. Classical prosody term with limited application to English verse. More theoretical than practical.
Also Known As
Antispastic six-foot Short-long-long-short hexameter Bounded hexameter
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