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Octosyllabe

French
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 verse of eight syllables, one of the most ancient and common meters in French poetry. Used in medieval narrative, lyric, and dramatic poetry, and revived by the Romantics and Symbolists.

Detailed Definition
The octosyllabe is arguably the most natural and spontaneous meter of French poetry, its eight syllables corresponding to a comfortable unit of breath and speech. It dominates medieval narrative poetry, from the romans courtoises to the fabliaux, as well as lyric and dramatic forms. Its lightness and speed make it ideal for narrative and dialogue, while its brevity can also achieve lyric concentration and musical grace. La Fontaine uses it in his Fables alongside the décasyllabe. The Romantics and Symbolists return to it as an alternative to the more monumental alexandrin, seeking in its natural flow a less rhetorical, more intimate musical quality.
Example
Example in poetry:
The octosyllabe dominates medieval French narrative poetry: the Roman de la Rose, Chrétien de Troyes's Arthurian romances, and the fabliaux all use the eight-syllable line's nimble pace to carry story forward without the gravity that the alexandrin's twelve syllables would impose; La Fontaine chooses octosyllabes for many of his Fables, alternating them with longer lines to create a rhythmically varied texture that matches the varied speeds of his narratives, slowing for moral reflection and accelerating for action; The octosyllabe's speed and lightness make it the natural meter of wit and comedy in French poetry, from medieval fabliaux through the epigrammes of the Renaissance to the lighter lyric of the Romantics and the chanson populaire; A student counting octosyllabes should practice with Chrétien de Troyes: "Qui petit sème peu recueille" contains exactly eight syllables (careful of the mute e) and demonstrates the meter's capacity for proverbial concision; The octosyllabe's return in Romantic and Symbolist poetry as an alternative to the alexandrin reflects its association with intimacy and naturalness: while the alexandrin is the meter of public performance and civic occasion, the octosyllabe is the meter of private feeling and informal expression; Hugo's "Ruy Blas" contains octosyllabic passages that contrast with the play's dominant alexandrins, the shorter meter marking a change of register from tragic grandeur to more intimate or comic exchanges.
Additional Notes
Octosyllabe is one of the most durable and versatile metres in French poetry, especially prominent in medieval narrative, romance, satire, and lyric forms. Its relatively brisk movement gives it flexibility unavailable to heavier classical metres. Students should compare its cadence with the alexandrin and décasyllabe to hear how line length shapes tone and pacing. Because it appears across centuries, the octosyllable is an excellent metre for tracing continuity and transformation in French versification.
Also Known As
Eight-syllable verse Octosyllabic verse
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