Home › Glossary › Letter R

Rhopalic 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 in which each foot is longer than the one before

Detailed Definition
Rhopalic hexameter is a rare metrical form in which each successive word in a line is longer by one syllable than the previous, culminating in a six-word hexameter of increasing syllabic length; it showcases virtuosic wordplay and appears in classical and baroque experimental poetry.
Example
Example in poetry:
Rhopalic hexameter: A hexameter line where each word is longer than the last: "I / am not / afraid of / complexity in / language that grows / exponentially outward"—approximating rhopalic form.
Additional Notes
Rhopalic hexameter extends each word by one syllable across six-foot line. Extremely rare and difficult constraint. Related to snowball verse. Ancient Greek curiosity—primarily of historical interest. Lipogrammatic challenge.
Also Known As
Expanding hexameter Growing six-foot Lengthening long line Club-shaped hexameter
Skip to main content