anapest

[prettygoodword]

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.

Comments

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

While iambs are the natural rhythm of English, anapests are the natural rhythm of Spanish. I'm translating a lot of poetry these days, so I'm very aware of this.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Back when I was translating Spanish poetry, I wasn't as strongly aware of language rhythms as now, but it fits what I vaguely remember.

---L.