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anapest (AN-uh-pest) - n., a metrical foot consisting (in accentual poetry) two unstressed then a stressed syllable or (in quantitative poetry) two short then a long syllable.
Most commonly found now in limericks, though most would recognize "'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house" as four anapests used to quicken the matter. My mnemonic, courtesy Coleridge, is "With a leap and a bound the swift anapest runs." Like most poetic and rhetoric terms, adopted from the Greek -- in this case, anápaistos, literally struck back/reversed (as compared to the DAH-duh-duh dactyl that was more common).
---L.
Most commonly found now in limericks, though most would recognize "'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house" as four anapests used to quicken the matter. My mnemonic, courtesy Coleridge, is "With a leap and a bound the swift anapest runs." Like most poetic and rhetoric terms, adopted from the Greek -- in this case, anápaistos, literally struck back/reversed (as compared to the DAH-duh-duh dactyl that was more common).
---L.
