Alcaic stanza: Difference between revisions
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The '''Alcaic stanza''' is a [[Greek literature|Greek]] [[Lyric poetry|lyrical]] [[meter (poetry)|meter]], an [[Aeolic verse]] form traditionally believed to have been invented by [[Alcaeus of Mytilene|Alcaeus]], a lyric [[poet]] from Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, about 600 BC.<ref name=Cuddon>{{cite book|last=Cuddon|first=John Anthony|title=A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory|date=1998|publisher=Wiley|isbn=9780631202714|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryoflite00cudd_0/page/18 18]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryoflite00cudd_0/page/18}}</ref> The Alcaic stanza and the [[Sapphic stanza]] named for Alcaeus' contemporary, [[Sappho]], are two important forms of Classical poetry. The Alcaic stanza consists of two Alcaic [[hendecasyllable]]s, followed by an Alcaic enneasyllable and an Alcaic decasyllable. |
The '''Alcaic stanza''' is a [[Greek literature|Greek]] [[Lyric poetry|lyrical]] [[meter (poetry)|meter]], an [[Aeolic verse]] form traditionally believed to have been invented by [[Alcaeus of Mytilene|Alcaeus]], a lyric [[poet]] from Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, about 600 BC.<ref name=Cuddon>{{cite book|last=Cuddon|first=John Anthony|title=A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory|date=1998|publisher=Wiley|isbn=9780631202714|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryoflite00cudd_0/page/18 18]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryoflite00cudd_0/page/18}}</ref> The Alcaic stanza and the [[Sapphic stanza]] named for Alcaeus' contemporary, [[Sappho]], are two important forms of Classical poetry. The Alcaic stanza consists of two Alcaic [[hendecasyllable]]s, followed by an Alcaic enneasyllable and an Alcaic decasyllable. |
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Revision as of 21:51, 4 February 2024
The Alcaic stanza is a Greek lyrical meter, an Aeolic verse form traditionally believed to have been invented by Alcaeus, a lyric poet from Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, about 600 BC.[1] The Alcaic stanza and the Sapphic stanza named for Alcaeus' contemporary, Sappho, are two important forms of Classical poetry. The Alcaic stanza consists of two Alcaic hendecasyllables, followed by an Alcaic enneasyllable and an Alcaic decasyllable.
In Alcaeus' poetry
The Alcaic stanza exists only in a few fragments of Alcaeus's poetry. As used by Alcaeus it has the following scheme (where "–" is a longum, "u" a breve, and "×" an anceps):
× – u – × – u u – u – || (alc11) × – u – × – u u – u – || (alc11) × – u – × – u – – || (alc9 ) – u u – u u – u – – ||| (alc10)
An example, quoted by Athenaeus, is:
ο ὐχ ρ ῆ κάκοισιθ ῦμ ο ν ἐπιτρέπην,- προκόψομεν
γ ὰρ ο ὐδ ὲν ἀσάμενοι, - ὦ Βύκχι, φαρμάκων
δ ᾿ ἄριστον -
ο ἶν ο ν ἐνεικαμένοις μεθύσθην.
- ou khrê kákoisi thûmon epitrépēn,
- prokópsomen gàr oudèn asámenoi,
- ô Búkkhi, pharmákōn d᾿ áriston
- oînon eneikaménois methústhēn.
- 'We should not surrender our hearts to our troubles,
- for we shall make no headway by grieving,
- Bycchis: the best of remedies
- is to bring wine and get drunk.'[2]
In Latin poetry
Apart from a single poem of Statius (Silv. 4.5), the Alcaic stanza appears to have been used in Latin only by Horace, who employed it in 37 of his 103 Odes.[3]
In Horace the Alcaic stanza takes this form:
x – u – – : – u u – u – x – u – – : – u u – u – x – u – – – u – – – u u – u u – u – –
(An "–" denotes a long syllable, "u" a short one, x is anceps (long or short), and ":" is the caesura.) The first syllable is sometimes short (13 times in book 1), but usually long. There is almost always a word-break after the 5th syllable.[4]
– – u – : – – u u – u –
Antehāc nefās dēprōmere Caecubum
– – u – – : – u u – u–
cellīs avītīs, dum Capitōliō
– – u – – – u– –
Rēgīna dēmentīs ruīnās
– u u – u u– u – –
fūnus et Imperiō parābat. (Odes 1.37, lines 5-8)
- 'Before this it would have been a sin to bring out the Caecuban
- from our grandfathers' cellars, as long as the Queen
- was preparing mad ruin for the Capitol
- and a funeral for the Empire'
Certain developments have been observed over the course of the four books of Horace's Odes. For example, the short syllable at the beginning of the line becomes less frequent in the course of books 1 to 3 and is not found at all in Book 4.[5]
A notable feature of Horace's Alcaics is the heavy word which usually fills the centre of the 3rd line.[6] Two common patterns are 3rd lines ending polysyllable + disyllable (e.g. Tītānās immānemque turbam) and polysyllable + trisyllable (e.g. Augustus adiectīs Britannīs). The first type becomes increasingly common (from 5% in book 1 to 30% in book 4).[5] 3rd lines ending in a tetrasyllable become rarer, and those ending in two disyllables (e.g. post equitem sedet ātra cūra) are not found at all in books 3 and 4.
Imitations in other languages
A famous example of English Alcaics is Tennyson's "Milton":
O mighty-mouth'd inventor of harmonies,
O skill'd to sing of Time or Eternity,
God-gifted organ-voice of England,
Milton, a name to resound for ages![7]
The Alcaic stanza was adapted to use in English and French during the Renaissance. It was very frequently used in Italian poetry of the 19th century, especially by Giosuè Carducci. As in English, the meter is accentual rather than quantitative.
Poi che un sereno vapor d’ambrosia
da la tua còppa diffuso avvolsemi,
o Ebe con passo di dea
trasvolata sorridendo via;
- (Giosuè Carducci, "Ideale", from: Odi barbare)
It was an historically important form in Hungarian poetry.[8] In Polish poetry (in contrast to the Sapphic stanza which was extremely popular since the 16th century) Alcaics were used very rarely. Even in translation Horace's Alcaic stanzas were usually turned into different forms. An example (perhaps the only) of an Alcaic stanza in Polish original literature is Stanisław Trembecki's Ode to Adam Naruszewicz:[9]
O ty, kapłanie Delijskiego świętny,
Przeszłego wiadom, przyszłości pojętny
Wieńcz twe skronie, wieszczą bierz laskę,
Śnieżny ubiór i złotą przepaskę.
Trembecki's verse is syllabic (11/11/9/10). There is no accentual metrical pattern.
German has also used alcaics with some success. They were introduced by Klopstock, and used by Hölderlin, by Johann Heinrich Voss in his translations of Horace, by August Kopisch and other 19th century German poets.[7]
A notable example of old Alcaic stanza is found in Miquel Costa i Llobera's book "Horacianes", written in Catalan:
Cel i mar lluen blavors diàfanes
en competència. L'oreig anima-s'hi,
i jugant amb les ones qui juguen,
rompre les fa com en rialla fresca.
Notes
- ^ Cuddon, John Anthony (1998). A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Wiley. p. 18. ISBN 9780631202714.
- ^ Translated by D. A. Campbell (1982). Sappho, Alcaeus, Greek Lyric, Volume I: Sappho and Alcaeus. Loeb Classical Library 142; pp. 372–3.
- ^ Becker, A. S. (2012). "Rhythm in a Sinuous Stanza: The Anatomy and Acoustic Contour of the Latin Alcaic". The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 133, No. 1, pp. 117–152; p. 118.
- ^ Nisbet & Hubbard (1970). A Commentary on Horace Odes Book 1, pp. xl–xli.
- ^ a b Nisbet & Hubbard (1970). A Commentary on Horace Odes Book 1, pp. xxviii, xliv.
- ^ Raven, D. S. (1965), Latin Metre, p. 146.
- ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 517.
- ^ See [1][permanent dead link] and [2] Archived 2006-06-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Adam Ważyk, Mickiewicz i wersyfikacja narodowa, Warszawa 1951 (in Polish).