Alcaics

Type: structure, meter, stanzaic

Description: This form is Greek. It is a quatrain form, described in technical terms of meter, the first two lines of each stanza consists of an acephelous iamb, two trochees and two dactyls, the third line is composed of an acephelous iamb and four trochees and the last line is two dactyls and two trochees. The form is unrhymed.

Schematic:

X Xx Xx Xxx Xxx
X Xx Xx Xxx Xxx
X Xx Xx Xx Xx
Xxx Xxx Xx Xx

Meter: mixed

Line length: between 9 and 11 syllables

Poem Length: unlimited

Example:

Good Morning Mister Christopher Basleget
How goes the Day in Bathampton Somerset?
Drum beats sound Loudly Mangled like Mumerset
Winningly playing the Congo Bongo

by Jeff Green

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.