Elegiac Couplets Defined
The elegiac couplet consists of alternating lines of dactylic hexameter
and pentameter. (See the description of the dactylic hexameter line
above.) The pentameter line gets its name (“pent” is Greek for fi ve) from
the fact that it consists of two times 2 ½ feet of hexameter. There is a
pause or diaeresis in between. The fi rst half of the pentameter consists
of two and a half feet of hexameter with the substitutions of dactyls and
spondees allowed in the hexameter line.
The second half of the pentameter does not allow substitution and consists
of two dactylic feet and a half foot. The “half” feet in the pentameter
are always one long syllable.
hexameter:
UU UU UU UU UU
— — / — — / — — / — — / — — / — X
pentameter:
—UU—UU
— — — — — // — UU — UU X
Poem 76, lines 1–2
Sī qua recordantī benefacta priōra voluptās
— U U/— — /— U U/— U U/—U U/— X
est hominī, cum sē cōgitat esse pium,
— U U/— — / — //—UU / —U U/ X
Catullus Poems in Elegiac Couplets
65 68 69 70 72 76 77 84 85 86 87 96 101 109 116
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