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Bacchiac tetrameter

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 four-foot line of bacchiacs (short-long-long), creating lilting, rising rhythm

Detailed Definition
Bacchiac tetrameter is a four-foot line using bacchiac meter (–uu), evoking the frenetic rhythms of Bacchic rites; it is uncommon but appears in archaic Greek poetry and modernist attempts to channel primal or ecstatic states through metrical intensity.
Example
Example in poetry:
Bacchiac tetrameter consists of four bacchiac feet (¯˘˘); example: “Shout in the dark, burn with the flame, roar through the gale, play the wild game.”
Additional Notes
Four-foot line using bacchiac metrical foot pattern. Shorter than pentameter, creates compressed intensity. Classical Greek and Latin tradition. Related to bacchiac verse. Study classical examples for effective contemporary adaptation.
Also Known As
Four-foot Bacchic Bacchic tetrameter line four-unit Bacchiac Bacchic four-measure
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