Foot (prosody)

The foot is the basic metrical unit that forms part of a line 1.2 Trisyllables
of verse in most Western traditions of poetry, including
English accentual-syllabic verse and the quantitative me- 1.3 Tetrasyllables
ter of classical ancient Greek and Latin poetry. The unit
is composed of syllables, the number of which is limited,
with a few variations, by the sound pattern the foot rep- 2 See also
resents. The most common feet in English are the iamb,
trochee, dactyl, and anapest.[1] Contrasting with stress- Accent (poetry)
timed languages such as English, in syllable-timed lan-
Syllable weight
guages such as French, a foot is a single syllable.
The lines of verse are classied according to the number
of feet they contain, e.g. pentameter. However some lines 3 References
of verse are not considered to be made up of feet, e.g.
hendecasyllable. [1] Baldick, Chris (2008). The Oxford Dictionary of Literary
The English word foot is a translation of the Latin term Terms. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-
pes, plural pedes. The foot might be compared to a bar in 0-19-923891-0.
musical notation. [2] Howatson, M. C., ed. (1976). The Oxford Companion to
The foot is a purely metrical unit; there is no inherent re- Classical Literature. New York: Oxford University Press.
lation to a word or phrase as a unit of meaning or syntax, ISBN 0-19-866121-5.
though the interplay between these is an aspect of the
poets skill and artistry.
4 External links
Comprehensive list of feet and colas up to 12 sylla-
bles long
1 Classical meter
Prosody Tutorial by H.T. Kirby-Smith
Below are listed the names given to the poetic feet by clas-
sical metrics. The feet are classied rst by the number
of syllables in the foot (disyllables have two, trisyllables
three, and tetrasyllables four) and secondarily by the pat-
tern of vowel lengths (in classical languages) or syllable
stresses (in English poetry) which they comprise.
The following lists describe the feet in terms of vowel
length (as in classical languages). Translated into syl-
lable stresses (as in English poetry), 'long' becomes
'stressed' ('accented'), and 'short' becomes 'unstressed'
('unaccented'). For example, an iamb, which is short-long
in classical meter, becomes unstressed-stressed, as in the
English word betray.[2]

1.1 Disyllables

Macron and breve notation: = stressed/long syllable,

= unstressed/short syllable

1
2 5 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

5 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

5.1 Text
Foot (prosody) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_(prosody)?oldid=751990643 Contributors: Thomas Mills Hinkle, Michael
Hardy, Pcb21, WolfgangRieger, Charles Matthews, Choster, Furrykef, Hyacinth, Rbellin, Hajor, Nufy8, Geogre, Davodd, Ahltorp, Daniel
Brockman, Brockert, D3, ChicXulub, Paul August, Bender235, Jnestorius, Brian0918, Tompw, CanisRufus, Kwamikagami, Shanes,
Wareh, Smalljim, Garzo, Zelse81, Redsox989, Stumps, EncycloPetey, BiT, Anarkisto, Ohnoitsjamie, Elagatis, Stevage, Cornake pi-
rate, Mike hayes, Nakon, Mathiasrex, iga, Douglas Spencer, Blehfu, JForget, Icarus of old, Quintopia, Djp27, Manushand, JAnDbot,
Leuko, Svm2, Cynwolfe, Bongwarrior, Feeeshboy, R'n'B, Mrseacow, MactruQue, Idioma-bot, Black Kite, Temporarily Insane, Martin451,
Symane, SieBot, Tiddly Tom, ClueBot, Acabashi, Ramisses, Noctibus, MystBot, Good Olfactory, Addbot, Ahrm~enwiki, Bdespot, Red-
heylin, Funky fresh33, Ehrenkater, Erutuon, Zorrobot, Tartarus, 1exec1, ArthurBot, Colfulus, FrescoBot, Sveska, Lothar von Richthofen,
Hornlitz, John of Reading, ClueBot NG, 1sassypaige, Antsalv, Acjones49, Akitalover101 and Anonymous: 71

5.2 Images
File:Long-foot-meter.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Long-foot-meter.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work Original artist: Masur
File:Short-foot-meter.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Short-foot-meter.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work Original artist: Masur

5.3 Content license

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