Home › Glossary › Letter H

Hyperiambic hexameter

Meter
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

A six-foot line with hypermetrical iambs, extending beyond standard bounds

Detailed Definition
Hyperiambic hexameter is a six-foot line where each foot is a hyperiamb—an iamb preceded by an extra unstressed syllable (u u /)—resulting in a rapid, galloping rhythm; though rare, it appears in experimental or accentual verse to create urgency or mimic natural speech patterns beyond standard iambic regularity.
Example
Example in poetry:
Hyperiambic hexameter: A six-foot line of hyperiambs (˘ ˘ ¯), e.g.: “In the deep and silent forest glades we wandered far from home” — each foot stresses the third syllable.
Additional Notes
Iambic hexameter with extra syllable(s). Six iambic feet plus extension. Related: hexameter, hypercatalexis. Study: how extensions affect line closure.
Also Known As
Extended iambic hexameter Overlong six-foot iambic Surplus iambic line Hyper-extended iambic
Skip to main content