Home › Glossary › Letter E

Elegiac

Foot
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

Refers to elegiac couplets: alternating lines of dactylic hexameter and pentameter

Detailed Definition
Elegiac denotes a classical couplet form—dactylic hexameter followed by dactylic pentameter—traditionally used for lament or reflection; though not a foot, the term is included in foot glossaries because its structure relies on specific dactylic feet, and its influence persists in English elegies that adapt its mournful, measured cadence for thematic gravitas.
Example
Example in poetry:
Elegiac couplets pair a dactylic hexameter with a pentameter, as in Ovid’s “Amores”: “Arma gravi numero violentaque bella parabam”; Propertius uses elegiacs for love poetry: “Cynthia prima fuit…”; Catullus 76 laments love in elegiac form: “Si qua recordanti benefacta priora voluptas”; In English, elegiac meter appears in Dryden’s translations of Ovid; The form traditionally expresses lament, love, or reflection; Modern poets like Seamus Heaney adapt elegiac couplets for contemporary elegies.
Additional Notes
Elegiac: A couplet form consisting of a dactylic hexameter followed by a dactylic pentameter, used in Greek and Roman elegy for themes of love, loss, or reflection; the pentameter’s caesura and repetition create a reflective pause; foundational for understanding classical elegiac tradition from Callimachus to Propertius.
Also Known As
Elegiac couplet
Skip to main content