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double catalexis

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 condition of having two missing syllables at a line’s end in meter

Detailed Definition
Double catalexis is the condition of a verse line lacking two final syllables compared to its standard metrical pattern, producing a stark, emphatic closure; common in trochaic or dactylic meters, it heightens emotional or rhetorical impact by denying expected resolution, lending the line a sense of incompleteness or urgency.
Example
Example in poetry:
Catullus’ shorter poems occasionally employ double catalexis for abrupt closure; In Anglo-Saxon verse, double catalexis appears in gnomic lines; Tennyson’s “Break, Break, Break” uses double catalexis to convey grief; Double catalexis in Hardy’s lyrics intensifies emotional truncation; Modernist poets like H.D. use double catalexis to fracture classical forms.
Additional Notes
double catalexis: The state or condition of a metrical line having two missing final syllables, making the final foot incomplete by two syllables.
Also Known As
Double truncation twin catalexis paired catalexis twofold shortening
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