Sapphic verse

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The Sapphic stanza is named after the Greek poet Sappho . This stanza has four lines and consists of three Sapphic verses ( sapphicus minor ), identical five-footed eleven silvers (hence also the Sapphic Hendekasyllabus ) with a dactyl in the third place (—◡ | - × | —◡◡ | —◡ | - ×) and as a closing verse a five-syllable Adoneus (—◡◡ | - ×).

In Roman antiquity, the Sapphic stanza was adopted by Catullus and Horace , among others .

Scheme for length-counting languages ​​(- means long, ◡ short and either a long or a short syllable can be used in the places marked with x):

—◡ | - × | —◡◡ | —◡ | - ×
—◡ | - × | —◡◡ | —◡ | - ×
—◡ | - × | —◡◡ | —◡ | - ×
—◡◡— ×

It has been copied in modern times by numerous German poets, including Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock , Friedrich Hölderlin , August von Platen , Josef Weinheber , Ricarda Huch and Georg Britting .

Since the German language is not based on the length of the syllable but on the stress and two stresses cannot follow one another, the ambivalent syllables marked with × must be unstressed in German , i.e.:

—◡ | —◡ | —◡◡ | —◡ | —◡
—◡ | —◡ | —◡◡ | —◡ | —◡
—◡ | —◡ | —◡◡ | —◡ | —◡
—◡◡ | —◡

Example: Platen.

This German form of the Sapphic stanza shows a great uniformity in the first three verses, which the poets try to counter in different ways. Different Verseinschnitte and numerous enjambement included as well as the introduced from Klopstockstrasse walking Daktylus , wherein the Daktylus in the first verse in the first place, in the second second and the third is the third, and therefore in the second verse a phaläkischen verse equals . Hölderlin, on the other hand, lets the dactyl in his poem Unter den Alpen sung in the third verse move to the fourth position, so that the Adoneus is repeated at the end of the stanza .

Example: Klopstock, Hölderlin.

Another possibility, which is more difficult to realize, is to keep to the caesura after the third accentuation, as it occurs in the form of the verse exclusively used by Horace:

—◡ ——— ‖ ◡◡ — ◡— ×

Example: wine lifter.

For the so-called 2nd Sapphic stanza see Sapphicus maior .

Examples

Sappho, " Song on the Shard ":

ποι κι λό θρον ' θανάτ' φρό δι τα,
παῖ Δί ος δο λό πλοκε, λίσ σο μαί σε,
μή μ 'ἄ σαι σι μηδ' ὀνί αι σι δάμ να,
πότ νια, θῦ μον,
Poikilothron 'athanat' Aphrodita,
pai dios doloploke, lissomai se,
mē m 'asaisi mēd' oniaisi damna,
potnia, thymon,

Horace:

Iam sa tis ter ris || nivis at que di rae
gran din is mi sit || pater et ru ben te
dext er a sac ras || iacu la tus ar cis
ter ruit ur bem.

August von Platen ( lot of the poet ):

Always on cloth glued un sere lake le, hand development
is the world all mäch term pulse , and the half
FLÖ tet often times tau berem ear of ho hey
ly innovative you ter.

Friedrich Hölderlin ( sung under the Alps ):

A famous it is because home like, who in true em
Bu sen Gött royal holding , and free will I , so
Long I may , you all , you Spra chen of Him mels!
Interpret and sing .

Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock ( fear of the beloved ):

Cid li, you know nest, and I Snooze re to it,
Where in San de the way ver zo gen continued creeps;
Even if style le night it around schat tend nationwide et,
I slumber him himself .

Josef Weinträger ( Imperial Crypt ):

Be silent ! Be practical's ! Enters a || into the night ! Ge sets is
here the way a goal . || What be livid , be resigned to,
and what great was resting ; || The ge Krön te main and
al le the Händ ' of
Deeds , sword and cross , || over come ne force of
Zep ters, battle and victory , || and the Fah nen wil the
Swing , and shield full of splendor , || and the Ad toddlers ore - and
erb royal Zei chen.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Horace Carm. I, 2.1-4