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Elegiac five-measure

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 metrical line of five feet traditionally used in elegiac poetry to convey solemnity and mourning.

Detailed Definition
Elegiac or mourning poetry composed in five-foot metrical lines, combining pentameter's serious, measured rhythm with the elegy's function of lamenting loss. The five-measure line provides sufficient length for complex syntax and developed thought while maintaining solemn dignity, making it the standard meter for much English elegiac poetry from Milton's "Lycidas" through Tennyson's "In Memoriam," where the regular five-beat pattern provides structure for sustained meditation on death and grief.
Example
Example in poetry:
Elegiac five-measure blends pentameter with mournful tone: Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” uses iambic pentameter quatrains; Tennyson’s “In Memoriam” employs ABBA pentameter stanzas; Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” adapts free verse elegy; contemporary examples include W.S. Merwin’s unrhymed pentameter elegies; Seamus Heaney’s “Clearances” uses pentameter for maternal elegy.
Additional Notes
Pentameter's five beats create measured, serious tone. Standard meter for much English elegiac poetry. Allows complex syntax and development of ideas.
Also Known As
Elegiac pentameter Five-foot mourning line Pentameter lament Five-measure dirge
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