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eleven-syllable meter

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 consisting of eleven syllables, common in Italian and Spanish verse

Detailed Definition
Eleven-syllable meter, or hendecasyllabic verse, is a classical line length used in Greek and Latin poetry (e.g., by Catullus) and later adopted in Romance languages; in English, it appears as a flexible iambic line with eleven syllables, often used for lyrical fluency and conversational grace, balancing regularity with expressive variation to suit reflective or narrative modes.
Example
Example in poetry:
eleven-syllable meter: "Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita" (Dante, Italian hendecasyllable); "Yo quiero ser llorando el hortelano" (García Lorca, Spanish); English adaptation: "The river flows beneath the bridge of time"; "A single leaf descends in autumn’s hush"; "She walks alone through streets of fading light"; "The clock strikes eleven in the empty hall."
Additional Notes
Eleven-syllable meter (hendecasyllabic) offers lyrical flexibility in English, often as iambic with an extra syllable—students should scan lines from Auden or translations of Catullus to appreciate its conversational yet musical flow; it’s a bridge between classical form and modern cadence.
Also Known As
hendecasyllabic meter eleven-beat line classical hendecasyllable lyrical eleven-syllable line classical eleven-syllable line Hendecadactyl
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