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Hypodactylic tetrameter acatalectic

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 complete four-foot hypodactylic line with no syllables missing

Detailed Definition
Hypodactylic tetrameter acatalectic is a highly technical metrical description: “hypodactylic” suggests a base of dactyls (– u u) with possible substitutions, “tetrameter” indicates four feet per line, and “acatalectic” means the line is complete without truncation; such a line would typically follow a pattern like – u u | – u u | – u u | – u u, used in classical lyric or adapted in English for stately, processional rhythm, though rare outside scholarly reconstruction.
Example
Example in poetry:
Hypodactylic tetrameter acatalectic: A complete hypodactylic tetrameter without truncation: “Through the forest deep and wide the ancient river flows” — all four feet intact, ending on a stressed syllable.
Additional Notes
Complete dactylic tetrameter with iambic substitution (no catalexis). All four feet present. Related: acatalectic, hypodactylic. Study: difference from pure dactylic tetrameter.
Also Known As
Complete shortened tetrameter Full deficient four-foot Untruncated reduced line Whole under-extended verse
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