A metron , (from ancient Greek "measure"), plural metra, is a repeating section, 3 to 6 syllables long, of a poetic metre.West, M. L. (1987). Introduction to Greek Metre (Oxford); p. 5.
The word is particularly used in reference to ancient Greek. According to a definition by Paul Maas, usually a metron consists of two long elements and up to two other elements which can be short, anceps or biceps.Maas, Paul (translated by H. Lloyd-Jones) (1962) Greek Metre, pp. 38–39. Thus an iambic metron is x – ᴗ – (where "x" represents an anceps element), a trochaic metron is – ᴗ – x, an ionic metron is ᴗ ᴗ – –, an anapaestic metron is ᴗᴗ – ᴗᴗ –, a cretic metron – ᴗ –, a baccheus is ᴗ – –, and a spondee is – –.
This definition of the metron as having two long elements does not apply to the dactylic hexameter or to the dochmiac metre, however. Some scholars regard the dactyl (– ᴗᴗ) and the dochmiac (ᴗ – – ᴗ –) as metra in their own right.Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd edition), s.v. Metre, Greek. Some of the more complex lyric metres, such as the dactylo-epitrite used in some of Pindar's odes, are not usually analysed in terms of metra.For dactylo-epitrite see West, M. L. (1987). Introduction to Greek Metre (Oxford); pp. 33–34.
Some metra, such as the iambic x – ᴗ – or the trochaic – ᴗ – x, can be analysed as consisting of two "feet". In this case the metron is also sometimes known as a "dipody" ,Collins English Dictionary. from ancient Greek .Liddell, Scott, Jones, Greek Lexicon, .
"Metron" in ancient Greek In ancient Greek, the word had a variety of meanings. The basic meaning is the "measure, size, length" of something.Liddell, Scott, Jones, Greek Lexicon, . Another meaning is "metre" or "verse", for example () "putting words into verse" (Plato); a is an expert in metre. () in Aristotle means "the iambic metre".Arist. Po. 1448b31. But Aristotle also defines as () "parts of the rhythms".Arist. Po. 1448b.
The words "dimeter", "trimeter" and "tetrameter" are found in ancient Greek. Liddell, Scott, Jones, Greek Lexicon, Liddell, Scott, Jones, Greek Lexicon, This implies that the ancient Greek poets were aware that their verses could be divided into two, three, or four equal sections, even though the word the word itself had no precise definition.
Ancient prosodists such as Hephaestion usually referred to metra using individual names for the different shapes: thus Hephaestion refers to the shape ᴗ ᴗ – ᴗ as the "third paeonic" and – ᴗ – – as the "second epitrite" and so on.Nauta, R. (2004). "Hephaestion and Catullus 63 again". Mnemosyne, 57(5), 651–656.
Metron and foot The equivalent of metra can also be found in the poetry of other languages, such as Arabic, Persian, and Sanskrit. However, in descriptions of the metres of these languages, what in Greek metrics is called a "metron" (i.e. a repeating section of 3 to 6 syllables) is often called a "foot" by modern scholars.
Thus in the traditional description of Arabic metre by William Wright, a section such as – – ᴗ – is referred to as a "foot".Wright, W. (1862), A Grammar of the Arabic Language vol 2. p. 358–9. However, Golston and Riad refer to it as a "metron": "A crucial element of our analysis is that what is traditionally considered a verse foot is in fact a metron (two verse feet)."Golston, C; Riad, T. (1997). "The phonology of classical Arabic meter", Linguistics 35 (1997), 111-132; p. 113.
Similarly Bruce Hayes and Finn Thiesen refer to a four-syllable repeating section of a Persian metre as a "foot".Hayes, Bruce (1979). "The rhythmic structure of Persian verse." Edebiyat 4, 193–242, p. 206.Thiesen, Finn (1982). A Manual of Classical Persian Prosody, with chapters on Urdu, Karakhanidic and Ottoman prosody. Wiesbaden, p. 73. Despite using the term "foot", both Wright and Hayes refer to lines with two, three or four feet respectively as dimeters, trimeters and tetrameters.Wright, W. (1862), A Grammar of the Arabic Language vol 2. p. 358–9, pp. 363, 365.Hayes, Bruce (1979). "The rhythmic structure of Persian verse." Edebiyat 4, 193–242; pp. 214, 215.
Trimeters and tetrameters A line of poetry most commonly consists of from two to four metra, rarely of a single metron. The terms "monometer", "dimeter", "trimeter", and "tetrameter" are used for metres that consist of one, two, three, or four metra respectively.
Thus an ancient Greek iambic trimeter has the following pattern:West, M. L. (1987). Introduction to Greek Metre (Oxford); p. 24.
x – ᴗ – | x – ᴗ – | x – ᴗ –
A dactylic hexameter, however, has six feet, not six metra, since according to Paul Maas's definition a dactylic metron (as used in lyric poetry) is – ᴗᴗ – ᴗᴗ.
Normally in Greek and Latin, in those metres where a metron is defined as having two long elements, there are no more than four metra in any line of poetry. There are rare exceptions such as Callimachus fragment 399 (trochaic pentameter catalectic) and fragment 229 (a choriambic pentameter).Maas, P. (1962), Greek Metre, p. 11.
The same rule also applies in Arabic and Persian. Thus in Wright's list of Arabic metres, there are dimeters, trimeters, and tetrameters only,Wright Arabic Grammar, vol. 2, pp. 361–8. and similarly in Persian, no metre is longer than a tetrameter of 16 syllables, or shorter than 10 syllables.Elwell-Sutton, L. P. (1976). The Persian Metres, Cambridge University Press, p. 162.
In some kinds of Greek and Latin lyric poetry, however, the same type of metra may run on without stopping for a number of lines with no pause at the end of each line. Such passages are known as "systems" and can be found in trochaic, ionic, and anapaestic metres.D. S. Raven (1965), Latin Metre: An Introduction, pp. 83, 115–117, 129.
Catalexis In some cases the last element of a metre is omitted. In this case the metre is called "catalectic".West, M. L. (1982). "Three topics in Greek metre". Classical Quarterly Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 281–297; p. 281. For example, the following metre is known as a trochaic tetrameter catalectic (in Latin it is known as a trochaic septenarius):See West, M. L. (1987). Introduction to Greek Metre (Oxford); p. 5.
– ᴗ – x | – ᴗ – x | – ᴗ – x | – ᴗ –
If an iambic metre ending in a long element is made catalectic, the final metron changes from x – ᴗ – to ᴗ – x (with brevis in longo at the end).West, M. L. (1987). Introduction to Greek Metre (Oxford); p. 29. For example, the iambic tetrameter catalectic is as follows:
x – ᴗ – | x – ᴗ – | x – ᴗ – | ᴗ – x
Beating time
Although the iambic trimeter has six feet, the ancient metricians state that it had three "beats" ().These passages are discussed in Beare, W. (1953). "The meaning of ictus as applied to Latin verse." Hermathena, (81), 29-40. Quintilian writes:
Quintilian, 9.4.75. "You can call it "trimeter" or as you wish; for it has six feet, but three beats."
Similarly Terentianus Maurus states:
Terentianus Maurus, 2191–2194.
"The iamb itself is found in six places, and from that the name is given. But a beat is made three times, hence it is known as a "trimeter", because when scanning we join the feet in pairs."
Terentianus also speaks of the teacher tapping his foot or clicking his thumb once every second iamb to help the pupil keep in time.Terentianus Maurus 2251–5.
Another writer, a certain cavalry officer called Paccius Maximus (1st century AD), writes of keeping time when writing poetry by beating with a stick:Quoted by Tom Sapsford (2022), Performing the Kinaidos: Unmanly Men in Ancient Mediterranean Cultures (Oxford), p. 126.
"like one who is tapped on his body with a stick in time with a melody"
It would therefore seem that the metra, being of equal length, created a rhythm that made it possible to beat time once each metron. The question remains on which of the two long elements the downbeat came. Wallace Lindsay writes:W. M. Lindsay (1900), The Captivi of Plautus, p. 66 note; quoted by Beare (1953). Iambic, like Trochaic and Anapaestic Metre, was scanned by Dipodies, not by single feet. The chief metrical ictus of the line, in other words the syllables at which the baton of a conductor keeping time would fall, were in an Iambic Trimeter the 2nd, 4th, and 6th ArsesI.e., the 4th, 8th, and 12th positions. (in a Trochaic Tetrameter the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th). Hence the necessity of exhibiting the metre in its pure form at these parts of the line (Bassus ap. Rufin. 555K; Terent. 2246 sqq. K).
Despite this statement, Lindsay himself, when he wishes to show the ictus in a trimeter, always marks not the 2nd, 4th, and 6th but the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Arses with an accent, for example:W. M. Lindsay (1900), The Captivi of Plautus, p. 362.
("follow me this way, daughter, so that you can perform your duty")
It is less usual for editors these days to mark the ictus, except sporadically. It is generally agreed by modern scholars that the word accents in Latin did not change to agree with the so-called "ictus" when poetry was recited, but that the length of the syllables alone determined the rhythm.Fortson, B. "Latin Prosody and Metrics". In Clackson, J. (2011) A Companion to the Latin Language, p. 100.
Unequal metra
In the examples given above the same metron is repeated several times to make a metrical line. But in some metres different kinds of metron are mixed in the same line. In the anacreontic metre, according to the ancient grammarian Hephaestion, two different metra, one of five morae and one of seven, are joined into one line:Mulroy, D. (1976). "Hephaestion and Catullus 63". Phoenix, 30(1), 61–72.
ᴗ ᴗ – ᴗ | – ᴗ – –
This phenomenon, where one metron "borrows" a time unit from the preceding metron, was referred to by ancient metrical writers such as Marius Victorinus as anaclasis ("bending back").Marius Victorinus: Keil, Grammatici Latini 6.93 In recent metrical studies the term anaclasis has been extended to cover not just inversion across a metron boundary but any instance where the sequence x – corresponds to – x in a parallel part of the same metre.Paul Maas (1962), Greek Metre, p. 25.
Placing the divisions
The Sotadean metre is particularly difficult to analyse. It is usually transcribed in the following form, consisting of alternating and di-trochaic metra:Tom Sapsford (2022), Performing the Kinaidos: Unmanly Men in Ancient Mediterranean Cultures (Oxford), pp. 201–3: Appendix: The Sotadean Meter.
– – ᴗ ᴗ | – – ᴗ ᴗ | – ᴗ – ᴗ | – x
In this regular form of the metre, as used by Petronius and Martial, the ionic rhythm is found in the first two metra, and the trochaic in the third, but in other authors the trochaic rhythm may be found also in the first or second metron, or all three metra may be ionic.
An alternative scansion, however, suggested by D. S. Raven, is to analyse the metre as ionic (ᴗ ᴗ – –) rather than ionic (– – ᴗ ᴗ):D. S. Raven (1965), Latin Metre: An Introduction, pp. 131–2.
– – | ᴗ ᴗ – – | ᴗ ᴗ – ᴗ | – ᴗ – –
Similar problems of deciding where the metra begin and end are found in certain Persian metres such as the ruba'i (quatrain), with different scholars suggesting different solutions (see below).
Aeolic verse
Aeolic metres are not usually analysed in terms of metra. D. S. Raven writes: "Unlike the metres described in previous chapters, aeolic does not run on any regular 'metron-scheme'."Raven, D. S. (1965), Latin Metre: An Introduction, p. 133.
However, according to a recent analysis by Paul Kiparsky, aeolic metres too can be analysed into metra. For example, the glyconic metre can be analysed as a dimeter:Kiparsky, P. (2018). "Indo-European origins of the Greek hexameter". In Hackstein, O., & Gunkel, D. (2018). Language and Meter (pp. 77–128). Brill; p. 99.
x x – ᴗ | ᴗ – ᴗ –