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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Verse
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INFOTEXT
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1992-09-01
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Arrangement of words in a rhythmic pattern,
which may depend on the length of syllables
(as in Greek or Latin verse), or on stress,
as in English. Classical Greek verse depended
upon quantity, a long syllable being regarded
as occupying twice the time taken up by a
short syllable. Long and short syllables were
combined in feet, examples of which are:
dactyl (long, short, short); spondee (long,
long);
anapaest (short, short, long);
iamb (short, long);
trochee (long, short).
Rhyme (repetition of sounds in the endings of
words) was introduced to Western European
verse in late Latin poetry, and alliteration
(repetition of the same initial letter in
successive words) was the dominant feature of
Anglo-Saxon poetry. Both these elements
helped to make verse easily remembered in the
days when it was spoken rather than written.
Form The Spenserian stanza (in which Spenser
wrote The Faerie Queene) has nine iambic
lines rhyming ababbcbcc. In English, the
sonnet has 14 lines, generally of ten
syllables each; it has several rhyme schemes.
blank verse, consisting of unrhymed
five-stress lines, as used by Marlowe,
Shakespeare, and Milton develops an inner
cohesion that replaces the props provided by
rhyme and stanza. It became the standard
metre for English dramatic and epic poetry.
Free verse, or vers libre, avoids rhyme,
stanza form, and any obvious rhythmical
basis.