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Epitritic pentameter

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 five-foot line incorporating epitritic substitution for rhythmic variation

Detailed Definition
Epitritic pentameter is a five-foot line composed of epitritic units, blending long and short syllables in irregular groupings to avoid monotony; it offers rhythmic suppleness for expressive or dramatic verse, particularly in adaptations of Greek lyric forms into English stress-based prosody.
Example
Example in poetry:
Pindar’s odes use epitritic pentameter in strophe/antistrophe; English approximations in Robert Bridges’s “Eros and Psyche”; A.C. Swinburne’s “Atalanta in Calydon” uses varied pentameters including epitritic; Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “Spelt from Sibyl’s Leaves” uses sprung pentameter with epitritic feel; Contemporary formalist poets like Rachel Hadas use epitritic pentameter; Annie Finch’s “Eve” includes quantitative pentameter lines.
Additional Notes
Five epitrite feet per line. Rare meter—20 syllables (approximately). Classical quantitative verse. Majestic, slow pace. Related: epitritic meters, pentameter forms. Practice: identifying short syllable positions.
Also Known As
Five-epitrite line Complex pentameter Mixed five-foot verse Compound five-measure
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