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Hendecasyllable

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 eleven syllables, common in classical Latin and Italian poetry, and occasionally adapted in English prosody.

Detailed Definition
The endecasyllable is a metrical constraint central to Italian (e.g., Petrarch) and Spanish poetic traditions, analogous to the English iambic pentameter; its eleven-syllable structure provides rhythmic regularity while allowing flexibility in stress patterns, shaping sonnets, canzoni, and other forms—poets adopt this constraint to engage with classical prosody, cultural heritage, or to impose disciplined musicality on lyrical expression.
Example
Example in poetry:
Hendecasyllable: Catullus 60: “O fur, O moechus, O perjurus!” uses 11-syllable urgency; Italian sonnets often open with hendecasyllabic lines; Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” stanzas blend hendecasyllables; Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” adapts hendecasyllabic rhythm in English; Modern lyric: “The clock ticks eleven syllables of silence”; Derek Walcott’s Caribbean verse fuses hendecasyllable with Creole cadence

Endecasyllable (11-syllable line): Italian hendecasyllable in Dante’s “Divine Comedy”; Spanish “endecasílabo” in Garcilaso de la Vega; French alexandrine adapted to 11 syllables; modern poets like James Merrill use endecasyllabic blank verse; constraint poets count syllables strictly per line; cross-linguistic endecasyllabic experiments in translation.
Additional Notes
11-syllable line. Italian endecasillabo, Polish jedenastozgłoskowiec standard. Related: hendecasyllabic, syllabic meter. Study: how languages handle 11-syllable lines differently.

Endecasyllable is the 11-syllable line dominant in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese poetry (e.g., Dante). Students should study its rhythmic flexibility—unlike English iambic pentameter, it’s syllabic, not accentual. Essential for cross-linguistic poetic study.
Also Known As
Eleven-syllable line hendecameter 11-syllable verse Hendecadactyl Endecasyllable
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