Verse foot

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A metrical foot ( Greek  πούς POUS ; latin pes ) is in the prosody of the smallest part of a verse , as the repeating element in verse rhythm is detected.

In the metrical scheme it appears as a sequence of verse elements , in the concrete verse as a sequence of syllables that are easy or difficult depending on the verse principle of the respective language . In literatures with a quantifying verse principle, such as ancient Greek and Latin poetry, the light corresponds to the short and the difficult to the long syllables; in literatures with an accentuating verse principle such as the German, the light corresponds to the unstressed and the heavy to the stressed syllables.

If you denote the light syllables according to the usual metric notation with the symbol ◡ and the heavy syllables with -, you will be in a verse with the scheme

◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡—

as a repeating element as the iambic detect known metrical foot ◡- and split accordingly:

◡ — ˌ◡ — ˌ◡ — ˌ◡ — ˌ◡—.

Does the verse contain an additional light element, so

◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡ — ◡,

so is both the division

◡ — ˌ◡ — ˌ◡ — ˌ◡ — ˌ◡ — ˌ◡

as well as

◡ˌ — ◡ˌ — ◡ˌ — ◡ˌ — ◡ˌ — ◡

possible, whereby a superfluous element would then be at the beginning and the repeating element is the trochaeus -◡. Obviously the division of a verse into verse feet, called skansion, is not a natural thing, but a matter of perception and convention.

Which consequences of light and heavy limbs can occur at all and which are frequent or rare is essentially determined by the respective language. For example, heavy (long) syllables are much more common in Greek and Latin than in German, and sequences of long and short syllables of almost any length can occur. For example, four consecutive lengths (————) are rare in Latin, but they do occur.

Accordingly, all possible combinations were listed and named in ancient metrics for the two- to four-part series, from which the number of ancient verse feet results, whereby only the two- and three-part series were regarded as simple verse feet. The four-membered ones were called “composed” - which is also partly indicated in the names, for example the ◡ — ◡— diiambos (“double yambus”) was called - since each sequence consists of four or more members from the simple two- and three-membered Feet can be assembled.

The following table shows the ancient feet sorted into groups according to the number of their links. The columns show the scheme of the foot of the verse and the abbreviation in metric notation, the Greek name with transcription , the Latin name and the designation commonly used in German:

Scheme Abbr. Greek gr. Transskr. Latin German comment
Two-part simple feet
◡◡ πυρρίχιος , διβραχυς pyrrhichios, dibrachys pyrrhichius, dibrachus, bibrevis Pyrrhichius , Dibrachys two-syllable brachysyllabus
—◡ tr τροχαῖος trochaios trochee Trochäus , also Faller sometimes in antiquity as choreios or choreus referred
◡— ia ἴαμβος iambos iambus Iambus , also Steiger
—— sp σπονδεῖος spondeios spondēus, spondius spondee
Tripartite simple feet
◡◡◡ τρίβραχυς tribrachys tribrachys, tribrachus, tribrevis Tribrachys three-syllable brachysyllabus ; in ancient times also sometimes referred to as choreios or choreus
—◡◡ there δάκτυλος dactylos dactylus Dactylus , also double faller
◡ — ◡ ἀμφίβραχυς amphibrachys amphibrachys, amphibrachus, amphibrevis Amphibrachys
◡◡— on ἀνάπαιστος anapaistos anapaestus Anapast , also double climber
◡—— ba βακχεῖος bakcheios bacchius Bacchius or Bakchius
—◡— cr ἀμφίμακρος amphi macros amphimacrus Amphimacer or Kreticus
——◡ παλιμβάκχειος palimbakcheios antibacchius Antibacchius or Palimbakchius
——— μολοσσός molossos molossus Molossus
Four-part composite feet
◡◡◡◡ προκελευσματικός , τετράβραχυς prokeleusmatikos, tetrabrachys proceleusmaticus Prokeleusmatikus four-syllable brachysyllabus
—◡◡◡ παιών Αʹ paiōn 1 paean primus Peon 1
◡ — ◡◡ παιών Βʹ paiōn 2 paean secundus Peon 2
◡◡ — ◡ παιών Γʹ paiōn 3 paean tertius Peon 3
◡◡◡— παιών Δʹ paiōn 4 paean quartus Peon 4
——◡◡ io ma ἐπιονικός epionikos ionicus a maiore falling ionic
◡ —— ◡ ἀντίσπαστος antispastos antispastus Antispast
◡◡—— io mi ιονικός ionikos ionicus a minore rising ionic
—◡◡— cho χορίαμβος choriambos choriambus Chorus iamb
—◡ — ◡ διτρόχαιος ditrochaios ditrochaeus Ditrochäus , also Dichoreus double trochee
◡ — ◡— διῖαμβος diiambos diiambus Dijambus double iambus
◡ ——— ἐπίτριτος Αʹ epitritos 1 epitritus primus Epitrite 1
—◡—— ἐπίτριτος Βʹ epitritos 2 epitritus secundus Epitrite 2 in Hephaestion also Karikos
——◡— ἐπίτριτος Γʹ epitritos 3 epitritus tertius Epitrite 3 at Hephaestion also Podios
——— ◡ ἐπίτριτος Δʹ epitritos 4 epitritus quartus Epitrite 4 in Hephaistion also Monogenes
———— δισπόνδειος dispondeios dispondeus Dispondeus double spondeus

In contrast to the combinatorial wealth of ancient metrics, the number of possible verse feet in German is severely limited by its peculiarities. For example, in German, the meeting of two stressed syllables while speaking results in a clear break in speaking, called a caesura :

Hollow and a sam and bare looks ' from the Hö he be main
—◡ — ◡◡— ‖ —◡◡ — ◡◡—

The caesura divides the verse into two half-verses called kola , so there is a half-verse border between the two elevations, whereby the caesura becomes a diheresis , which also marks a verse border. The cut does not have to fall on a word boundary. Wilhelm Busch gives the beautiful example of two successive uplifts by dividing them over two verses:

Ma dam sow he bread , the seem -
Dead ge we sen, comes forth one .

Another limitation of possible sequences in German is that no more than two accents can follow one another. If three normally unstressed syllables appear next to each other, a secondary accent arises on one of them when speaking.

Taking these restrictions into account, only the iambus and trochaeus remain as possible verse feet in German for the two-part and the three-part

In doing so, the Kreticus cannot appear pure. A purely dactylic verse, for example, is one that consists only of dactyls, a purely iambic verse that consists only of iambi. If two Cretan feet were next to each other (—◡ — ˌ — ◡—), one would have two more successive lifts.

Despite this reduction in the number of possible feet to 5 or 6, there are still ambiguities in the scaling. For example, if one only considers the repetition of similar sequences of syllables, leaves the line

faith, love, hope

with the scheme

◡ — ◡◡ — ◡◡ — ◡

are divided into three amphibrachy feet (◡ — ◡):

◡ — ◡ˌ◡ — ◡ˌ◡ — ◡

This structure would also correspond to the following groups of words:

the belief | love, | the hope

Nevertheless, the amphibrachys hardly plays a role in the German verse theory and one would either write the line with dactyls (—◡◡)

◡ˌ — ◡◡ˌ — ◡◡ˌ — ◡

or with anapast (◡◡—)

◡ — ˌ◡◡ — ˌ◡◡ — ˌ◡

structure, with superfluous light syllables or shortened verse feet at the beginning and end. Which of the various possibilities is considered the most appropriate is therefore a matter for the convention or the theoretical school represented.

According to Klopstock , a structure according to the educational words or word groups is natural and appropriate, for which he coined the term “ word base ”. According to Klopstock, it should be divided into three amphibrachys. According to Andreas Heusler's theory , however, the concept of the foot of the verse, which goes back to antiquity, is inappropriate to the German verse. In his verse theory, which is strongly oriented towards musical concepts, Heusler does not speak of feet, but of bars , with each lift marking the beginning of a bar. According to Heusler, it should be structured dactylically. Finally, there is the view that from the beginning of the verse one has to subdivide into complete verse feet with possibly a catalectic closure, i.e. as in the last example above in iambus, two anapastes and hypercatalectic with an unstressed syllable at the closure.

Against this approach, which makes the structure dependent on the beginning of the verse, the objection was that in German it is not the beginning of the verse, but rather the closure, more precisely the cadence , that is decisive for the rhythm. So one does not have to orientate oneself on the formal characteristics of a sequence, but on whether the respective verse has a falling or rising rhythm and accordingly interpreted iambic-anapaestically with rising rhythm or trochaic-dactylic with falling rhythm. The problem is that the concept of verse rhythm, while central, is also very vague, and there is no established conception of what the constituents of verse rhythm are, let alone that it is clear how exactly a verse increases with a decreasing rhythm must be distinguished.

literature

  • Ivo Braak : Poetics in a nutshell. 8th edition. Bornträger, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-443-03109-9 , pp. 82-84.
  • Dieter Burdorf, Christoph Fasbender, Burkhard Moennighoff (ed.): Metzler Lexicon Literature. Terms and definitions. 3rd edition Metzler, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-476-01612-6 , p. 805.
  • Wilfried Neumaier: Ancient rhythm theories. Historical form and current substance. Grüner, Amsterdam 1989, ISBN 90-6032-064-6 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Versfuß  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ The stressed syllables are indicated by underlining.
  2. ^ Friedrich Hölderlin The Wanderer v. 4th
  3. ^ Wilhelm Busch: A happy event. In: (ders.): Works. Historical-critical complete edition . Vol. 2 Hamburg 1959, p. 65, online .