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Ionic five-foot

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 composed of five Ionic feet—typically two long followed by two short syllables (– – u u)—used in Aeolic and choral lyric poetry.

Detailed Definition
Ionic five-foot is a metrical line composed of five Ionic feet (typically two long followed by two short syllables in quantitative meter), producing a rolling, wave-like rhythm occasionally adapted into English for lyrical or dramatic effect.
Example
Example in poetry:
A line structured as “˘ ˘ – – | ˘ ˘ – – | ˘ ˘ – – | ˘ ˘ – – | ˘ ˘ – –” (five Ionic feet); In Greek: a reconstructed line from Bacchylides using five Ionic metra; An English approximation: “In the bright dawn light we rose and ran”; A metrical experiment using “The soft wind blew through the tall green trees” as a loose Ionic pentameter.
Additional Notes
Ionic five-foot is a rare metrical line of five Ionic feet (˘ ˘ – –); appears in Greek choral lyric; seldom used in English but imitated by poets like Swinburne.
Also Known As
Ionic pentameter Five-foot Ionic line Penta-Ionic measure
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