Versification can be called a whole science, which has its own laws and rules, developed over millennia of the existence of poetry. And in this article we will talk about one of the oldest poetic meters - hexameter.

What is a hexameter in literature?

Hexameter is the oldest form of verse, known since antiquity. It is a 6-foot dactylic meter with a caesura after the 7th syllable and a shortened ending by one syllable. Hexameter was the most common meter in ancient poetry; the Odyssey and Iliad were written with it. This is why hexameter is also called epic and heroic verse.

Story

Hexameter is a metrical verse that originated around the 8th century BC. e. in Ancient Greece. Scientists do not fully know how this size arose. There is an assumption about the borrowed nature of the hexameter. According to the most common opinion, this meter arose under the influence of Hittite and Hurrian poems. Initially, poems composed according to the laws of hexameter were not written down, but were passed on from mouth to mouth.

According to myths, this form of verse was created by the ancient Greek god Apollo, and it was spread throughout the earth by the daughter of the god Phemonoi, the Delphic Pythia. It is therefore not surprising that at first the hexameter was used only in sacred tests, for example in composing oracular speeches and religious hymns. Often such poems were recited to the accompaniment of musical instruments.

Much later, hexameter moved into heroic poetry and other types of verse. And its first written example was the famous works of Homer - “Odyssey” and “Iliad”, the writing of which dates back to approximately 9-8 centuries BC. e. In these texts the hexameter appears in its classical form. Therefore, scientists do not have the opportunity to trace the formation of this form of versification; the first written monument is an example of a completed and fully developed meter.

As for the hexameter, it was first introduced by Quintus Ennius. In general, by its nature, this poetic form is suitable for languages ​​such as Latin and Ancient Greek, where vowel lengths had phonological significance. Today, this size is not used in its classic form; it is only imitated and artificially recreated.

Hexameter: examples of verses and their structure

The heroic antique hexameter is a 6-foot verse with two options for filling the feet. The strong place is called arsis, it can only be a long syllable. The weak point is called the thesis - it can be either a long or short syllable. The main thing is that the principle of quantification, that is, equal quantity, is observed. In this case, the last syllable can be anything and is a sign of the end of the poem. The hexameter diagram looks like this: _UU|_UU|_UU|_UU|_UU|_X

Considering that each foot can be replaced by a spondee, we can conclude that there are a total of 32 possibilities for realizing such a verse. The classic 17-syllable will sound like this: Quādrupedānte putrēm sonitū quatit ūngula cāmpūm…

We are forced to give examples since the Russian language simply does not have the ability to write poetry in classical hexameter due to the lack of long and short vowels.

Caesura

So, if you ever come across the task “explain the terms “hexameter” and “caesura” in a test, then you know how to answer the first part, but what about the second?

A caesura is a word section (a kind of pause), which is repeated uniformly throughout the poem. The parts that are obtained after dividing them with a caesura are called hemistiches.

The role of such pauses in hexameter is great due to the symmetry of the rhythmic meter. And, for example, for syllabics, caesuras do not play an important role for the perception of verse. In metric meters (recitative, with a fixed rhythm), pauses are necessary, since without them it is impossible to hear a monorhythmic long line.

However, the hexameter is initially pronounced without pauses. Examples of sacred type poems are proof of this. And only later, with the development of individual creativity, the poetic system evolved. Only a native speaker of the original language in which ancient works were written can fully understand the meaning of caesura.

Thus, a hexameter is a poetic meter consisting of successively arranged three-part parts, the beginning and end of which are marked by pauses. Typically, such poetic works are divided into 2-3 fragments.

What is it used for?

As you know, poetic meters have their own semantic feature, according to which they are used. A hexameter is, first of all, an excellent tool for creating an image and further revealing it.

Experienced poets, alternating pauses, could achieve a very high artistic effect in terms of imagery. This effect can be further enhanced by replacing the usual stanza with a spondee.

As a result, the classical size was used to describe lively action, something that was fast in nature. And the spondee was inserted when there was a need for solemnity, slowdown and significance.

Hexameter in tonic

However, there are languages ​​in which the length of vowels does not have any phonological value, for example, German, Russian, etc. In such languages, the hexameter was artificially recreated in order to convey the size of the Latin classics and ancient Greek works.

Such an artificial hexameter usually represents a poem with 6 stressed consonants and 2, and sometimes one, unstressed. Thus, in the syllabic-tonic system of versification it looks like a 6-foot dactyl, which can be replaced by a trochee. This scheme is also called the 6-foot dactylo-trochaic dolnik. The caesura remains in the middle of the stanza.

Russian hexameter

As mentioned above, in the Russian language this size is artificially recreated. It has 18 lobes, while the original antique one has 24 lobes.

Hexameter in Russian follows the rules of ordinary three-syllable meters, while stressed syllables can be replaced by unstressed ones, and vice versa. Typically it has the following scheme:

UU|_UU|_UU||_UU|_UU|_U, where || - This is a designation for caesura.

Became the first in Russian versification in the size of hexameter fractions. Poems written according to this scheme first appeared in M. Smotrytsky’s “Grammar” in 1619. However, these were still only outlines, since long and short syllables were set arbitrarily, and outwardly the verse resembled the alternation of dactyls with spondees. The first stable example of a hexameter is considered to be the work of the Swede Sparvenfeld, written in 1704.

Trediakovsky

However, only Trediakovsky was the first to approve the norm for the hexameter - thirteen syllables. He outlined this idea in his work “A New and Brief Method for Composing Russian Verse.” The poet gave the first examples of the new meter in the collection “Argenida”: “The first Phoebus, they say, fornication with the Venus of Mars/ Could see: this god sees everything that happens, the first...”.

Hexameter, examples of which can be found in other works of Trediakovsky, of this type has become classic for Russian literature.

But the work on the size did not stop there; Lomonosov continued it. He didn’t change anything, but he gave a theoretical justification for Trediakovsky’s work. It is also significant that these studies helped Lomonosov in his work on the syllabic-tonic system, which became the basis for Russian poetry.

Translations of Homer

Hexameter is not the most popular system in Russian poetry. The only truly significant and large example of it is the translation of Homer's poems, which was done by N. Gnedich and V. Zhukovsky.

Gnedich worked most diligently on the translation of the Iliad - 2 times he set out a sample of the ancient Greek classics in prose and 1 time in verse. The last attempt (1787) is the most significant, since for it the poet had to continue considerable work to transform the hexameter and adapt it to the Russian language. Although he initially tried to translate the Alexandrian verse, which he spent 6 years on, he was disappointed with the result, destroyed all his works and started again, using only hexameter.

Thanks to such efforts, Gnedich managed to create the best translation of Homer's poem, which is considered unsurpassed to this day. Here is a short excerpt from it: “Having finished the word, Thestoridas sat down; and from the host arose / A powerful hero, the spatially powerful king Agamemnon...” Written in hexameter in the original, the Iliad was thus recreated in the same rhythm in Russian.

It’s hard to believe, but the first examples of translation were received negatively by readers, and Gnedich had to defend the chosen poetic meter.

19th century

Zhukovsky continued his work on translations of Homer, presenting The Odyssey to the Russian reader. He also owns a wonderful adaptation of “The War of Mice and Frogs,” in which hexameter was also taken as a poetic basis. Examples from works: “Muse, tell me about that experienced man who / Wandering for a long time since the day when Saint Ilion was destroyed by him...” (“Odyssey”); “Listen: I’ll tell you, friends, about mice and frogs. / The fairy tale is a lie, but the song is true, they tell us; but in this...” (“War”).

Pushkin, Lermontov, Fet and many other poets of the 19th century also turned to hexameter. However, interest in him is gradually subsiding. In the 20th century, this poetic meter is again revived in the works of Vyach. Ivanov, Balmont, Shengeli, Nabokov.

The section is very easy to use. Just enter the desired word in the field provided, and we will give you a list of its meanings. I would like to note that our site provides data from various sources - encyclopedic, explanatory, word-formation dictionaries. Here you can also see examples of the use of the word you entered.

The meaning of the word hexameter

hexameter in the crossword dictionary

hexameter

Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language, Dal Vladimir

hexameter

(hexameter) m. hexameter verse, where the foot consists of two long, or one long and two short syllables; a strict hexameter consists of four dactyls or spondees, the fifth is a dactyl, and the sixth is a spondee or trochae. Russian hexameters all respond with effort, because in our pronunciation there are no two long syllables in a row, and in general, the difference between a long syllable and stress is lost. Hexametric, composed of hexameters, related to them.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. D.N. Ushakov

hexameter

hexameter, m. (Greek hexametron) (lit.). A type of hexameter verse among the Greeks and Romans, consisting of five dactyls (or spondees) and the last foot - spondea, as well as imitation of this verse in new literatures. Hexameter sacred chants. Pushkin. Zhukovsky wrote several fairy tales in hexameter.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. S.I.Ozhegov, N.Yu.Shvedova.

hexameter

A, m. Poetic meter: in ancient versification - hexameter dactyl, in Russian - hexameter dactyl with a trochaic ending.

adj. hexametric, -aya, -oe.

New explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

hexameter

Hexameter dactylic poetic meter, developed in ancient poetry, which is characterized by caesura on the third foot and truncation on the last.

1. Hexameter, combining tonic dactyl with trochee (in syllabonic, including Russian, versification).

   A poetic work or parts of it written in this size.

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

hexameter

HEXAMETER (from the Greek hexametros - six-foot) poetic meter of ancient epic poetry: six-foot dactyl, in which the first 4 feet can be replaced by spondees (in syllabic-tonic imitations of the hexameter - trochees). It was introduced into Russian poetry by V.K. Trediakovsky and then by N.I. Gnedich and V.A. Zhukovsky.

Hexameter

hexameter (Greek hexámetron, from héx ≈ six and métron ≈ measure),

in ancient metrical versification there is a 6-foot dactyl with the last truncated foot; in each foot, except the 5th, two short syllables can be replaced by a long one, forming a spondee (≈ ≈); caesura on the 3rd foot (in Greek G. after the 1st or 2nd syllable, in Latin only after the 1st syllable), less often ≈ after the 1st syllable of the 2nd and 4th feet. G. scheme (≈ Greek, | ≈ Latin caesura):

G. is the most common meter in ancient poetry: in epic (Homer, Hesiod, Virgil, Ovid), in idyll (Theocritus), in satires (Horace, Juvenal). See also pentameter.

In syllabic-tonic versification, G. is conveyed by a combination of tonic dactyls () with trochees ().

Wrath, goddess, sing to Achilles, son of Peleus (N.I. Gnedich, trans. “Iliad”).

In Russian poetry, G. first appeared in V. K. Trediakovsky (“Argenida,” 1751) and became established since N. I. Gnedich’s translation of “The Iliad” (1829) and in the poetry of V. A. Zhukovsky. In modern poetry it is used mainly in stylizations of ancient genres (“Reinecke-Fox” by J. V. Goethe, “The Seasons” by K. Donelaitis) and themes (A. Delvig, N. Shcherbina, A. Fet).

M. L. Gasparov.

Wikipedia

Hexameter

Hexameter, hexameter, obsolete exameter, exametron, exameter, dactylo-trochaic meter, six-dimensional verse(from - “six” and - “measure”) - in ancient metrication, any verse consisting of six meters. In a more common understanding, it is a verse of five dactyls or spondees, and one spondea or trochee in the last foot. One of the three main sizes of the classical ancient quantitative metric, the most common size of ancient poetry.

Examples of the use of the word hexameter in literature.

We are time, whose invisible current carries away lions and mountain ranges, Mourned tenderness, the ashes of happiness, Stubborn endless hope, Vast names of fallen kingdoms, Hexameters Latin and Greek, The darkness of the sea and the triumph of the dawn, A dream, a foretaste of the coming death, Armor, monuments and regiments, Heads and tails of the face of Janus, Spun figures from the bones of Meander on a lined board, The brush of Macbeth, capable of filling the sea with blood, the secret works of the Hours, running in the midnight darkness, A waking mirror, looking into another without prying eyes, Engravings and Gothic letters, A block of sulfur in a wardrobe, Heavy bells of insomnia, Dawns, dusks, sunsets, echoes, Silt and sand, lichens and dreams.

A grief-stricken person can be saved by a trifle - the slightest distraction of memory or attention: the taste of a fruit, the taste of plain water, a face returned by sleep, the first November jasmine, a tireless compass, a book whose loss one has already come to terms with, a heartbeat. hexameter, a small key to the front door, the smell of books and sandalwood, the old name of an alley, the colors of a geographical map - flashing etymology, a straight-cut nail, a forgotten date, the striking of the midnight chimes or sudden pain.

Like a lifting machine hexameter supports words in the imaginary air, preventing them from touching the ground.

Although I must admit that even in those old days when things were much better with sperm, hexameter left my dreams dry and eventless.

She's still tanned, she's still terracotta, because she's still hexameter and pentameter.

They asked the Dodonian oracle and sailed on black ships to begin with copper sounds hexameter three thousand year history of European civilization.

This may seem like a purely technical question, but the fact is that the Alexandrian verse is the closest relative hexameter, at least only from the point of view of the use of caesura.

The elegiac couplet, in short, made it possible to express at least two points of view, not to mention the entire palette of intonation coloring provided by slowness hexameter and the functionality of iambic pentameter with its dactylic - i.e.

Let's start with the fact that the pentameter dactyl of the first and the pentameter anapest of the second are essentially our home-grown version of the rhyming hexameter, as evidenced by their massive caesura.

Maybe they liked the buzz hexameter precisely for reasons of humility, for the purpose of camouflage.

Our maidens didn’t know him yet, Just as Delvig forgot about him Hexameter sacred chants.

It is extremely important to note, for example, that almost always, when Mandelstam happens to address the theme of time, he resorts to rather heavily caesurated verse, which imitates hexameter size or content.

In general, it seems to me that Mandelstam’s attraction to hexameter deserves a separate discussion, if not research.

And we also noticed that no one recites anymore hexameter, but everyone talks as usual.

From the left side the low coast of Asia Minor was approaching, where every hill, every stone was sung hexameter, - the land of heroes, Troas.

Homer is known to everyone and does not need any recommendations. Homer's verse, a hexameter, has been around for almost three thousand years. At one time it came to Russian poetry and exists in it as a special metrical form. This was inevitable - after all, a translation of the same Homer into Russian was required. But how to translate from ancient Greek into Russian, if in ancient Greece there was a different system of versification, which cannot be reproduced in the Russian language?

Ancient Greek had long and short vowels, the long one sounding about twice as long as the short one. The hexameter was built from repeated combinations of these long and short vowels - stops. There could be six feet in a line, but only two types of foot. The foot of the first type consisted of a long syllable followed by two short ones (dactyl). The second type of foot consisted of two long syllables (spondee). It turned out that the dactyl and spondee were equal in total duration of sound. Two more rules - the last foot of a hexametric line had to be a truncated dactyl (minus one short syllable), and the penultimate foot could not be spondeic.

In the Russian language there are no long and short vowels, but there are stressed and unstressed ones. Therefore, Russian poets began to imitate long syllables with stressed syllables, and short syllables with unstressed ones. However, the spondee proved to be very difficult to replace with two stressed syllables. If you do this, it turns out that the line must have three stressed syllables in a row. Theoretically, this is possible, but only if a monosyllabic word like “night”, “light”, “god” is located between two words, the first of which ends with a stressed syllable, and the second begins with a stressed syllable. For example, “God help you,” “it’s a dark night again,” etc. These are clumsy, formal constructions; naturally, this path was rejected, and the ancient Greek sponde was replaced in the Russian hexameter by a trochee (stressed syllable, unstressed syllable). The result was the following diagram:
(DH) (DH) (DH) (//) (DH) D X
in which D is a dactyl (+--, + - stressed syllable, - unstressed syllable), X is a trochee (+-), (DH) - this place can have both a dactyl and a trochee, // - caesura (metric pause), which may not be present.

“We all waited with trepidation for the appearance of the divine Eos” (Odyssey, trans. Zhukovsky). A complete hexameter of dactyls only, without caesura. It always has 17 syllables. Scheme:
D D D D D X

“Wrath, goddess, sing to Achilles, son of Peleus” (Iliad, trans. Gnedich). Incomplete hexameter. The first foot is a trochee. Scheme:
X D D D D X

“Golden Rome, the abode of the gods, the first among the cities” (Ausonius, “Monostych”, trans. Bryusov).
Incomplete hexameter. Scheme:
D X D X D X

The variability of the Russian hexameter is very large. Thanks to the ability to replace dactyls with trochees in different positions, the poet can change the rhythm of the poem in various ways at different levels. Both smooth and solemn, tensely rigid, and dancing-buffoon movement of the verse is possible. I will show this in many examples below, but now one more metric example. One of the variations of an incomplete hexameter is a pentameter:
D D U // D D U (U – single stressed syllable, truncated trochee)
In pentameter, caesura is required. It was not used independently, but was always paired with a regular hexameter according to this scheme - the first line is a hexameter, the second is a pentameter:

“The earth has covered the glorious ones - those who are with you
They died here, Leonidas, the powerful king of Laconia!” (Simonides of Keos, trans. Veresaeva)

“Girl with roses, you are the rose yourself. Tell me, what are you selling?
Roses, or yourself? Or both?” (Dionysius the Sophist, trans. Blumenau).

This combination of hexameter and pentameter is called an elegiac distich. Thanks to the enormous rhythmic possibilities of both the simple hexameter and the elegiac distich, they were already used in ancient times for many genres. Hexameter, of course, is primarily used for heroic epic. Elegiac distich - for long elegies and short epigrams of the most varied content. But not only. Already in ancient times, the hexameter began to be used for satires and parodies.

“I beg that the sensitive ears of all mortals may hear,
Like mice attacking frogs with warlike valor
In their exploits they were likened to earth-born giants” (Batrachomyomachy, translated by Altman).
Batrachomyomachy (War of the Mice and Frogs) is an ancient burlesque parody of the Iliad, composed by an unknown author. It uses lush and sublime Homeric epithets and metaphors to describe the funny - this is the essence of burlesque.

“So listen, if you don’t want success in business
Womanizers - how much they have to suffer everywhere,
How his pleasure is poisoned by worries and troubles,
How it is obtained at the cost of grave dangers.
One threw himself from the roof headfirst, the other with whips
Whipped to death; and he, running away, joins a gang of robbers
Got into my hands; and the other paid with money for lust;
The third one is doused with urine; there was once and such a case,
That, having grabbed the red tape, they completely emasculated him
With a sharp knife..." (Horace, Satire 2, trans. Dmitrieva)
This is already satire, where the funny can serve the purpose of exposing or moralizing.

In Russia, hexameter and pentameter have been used since the 18th century. Here is one of the early, textbook examples:

“The monster is huge, mischievous, yawning and barking!” (Trediakovsky)

This description of Scylla has been the butt of many jokes, but I think what's nice about it is the alliteration on the "o".

In the 19th century, Homer's poems were translated. Zhukovsky, in addition to translating the Odyssey, wrote several romantic poems in hexameter (the most famous is the magnificent Ondine). Pushkin left remarkable epigrams:

“I hear the silenced sound of the divine Hellenic speech;
I feel the shadow of the great old man with my troubled soul” (“On the translation of the Iliad”).

Naturally, comic hexameters also appeared in Russian poetry:
“Someone once said: “Boots are higher than Shakespeare.”
In order to surpass the Briton in this word, as a shoemaker
Leo Tolstoy took up his craft and achieved fame.
Should we go further, Russians, in search of glory?
Repin acquired the great one when: “Boots like these,
Higher than Shakespeare, he says, are boots equipped with blacking,
Taller than Tolstoy." And behold, a vessel with a brilliant composition
Having taken Tolstoy’s boots, he began to clean them diligently” (Vl. Soloviev)

In this example of burlesque, the following are brilliantly combined: Tolstoy’s popularity with the people, Tolstoy’s inexplicable dislike of Shakespeare, the controversy surrounding the thesis “art for art’s sake”...

Here is an example of a satirical hexameter:

“The rose is beautiful in shape and has a pleasant smell,
Hemlock is ugly and smells terrible.
Byron, and Schiller, and Scott are perfect in spirit and body,
But Burenin is ugly, and his spirit is not good...” (Sasha Cherny, “Harmony”).

Another feature of the hexameter is that it is written without rhyme. Antiquity did not know rhyme. In European poetry, rhyme begins to emerge in the early Middle Ages, and is finally established in the era of the Crusades. But hexameter does not need rhyme - the length of the verse is very long, and the associations with antiquity are strong. Here's how Vyacheslav Ivanov wrote about it:

“Graces, I swear to you: sweeter Beauty without clothes!
Full of harmonies, without rhymes, the verse is naked and cute!”

Bryusov proposed the most original way of using a hexameter. He discovered that two lines of an elegiac distich add up to 31 syllables (if the hexameter is complete). This is exactly the same as in the exquisite Japanese solid form - tanka. Bryusov even began to write Russian imitations of tanks in elegiac distich. Here is one of them:

"like gold
rain falling
silent tears
will be in a sad fate
my thoughts are about you"

This is a tanka. And here is the elegiac distic:

“Like falling golden rains - silent tears,
My thoughts about you will be in my sad fate.”

This flexibility of the hexameter has been noticed by others. Here is almost free verse, although in fact it is a normal hexameter:

“On a starry evening we rushed,
Into cast ink blocks,
Smoky silver
Girding the sides
And the arc meaning
Foam run.
Left
The cat's Venus shone.
On right
Rising from the waves
Orion, refreshed in December.
Who, looking at the heavens
Or listening to the wind,
Or splashes
Feeling the sharp water on the palm of your hand, -
He will say:
Which
A century floats by
Which
The ship carries us into the open spaces:
Argo is a predator,
Is Hiram a peaceful ship,
caravel
Elder Columbus?..
Sweet
Hear your whisper, Eternity! (Shengeli)

But, despite the widespread penetration of hexameter and its derivatives into Russian poetry, it still did not become a “counterweight” to the syllabic tonic. We will talk about this and the further history of Russian verse more than once in the following essays.

Hexameter

Hexameter

I. Metrical - six-foot dactylic meter with a constant caesura (usually after the third long, i.e., seventh, syllable) and an ending shortened by one syllable: “- UU - UU - | UU - UU - UU - U", e.g. “Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.” Each of the dactylic feet (usually except the fifth) could be replaced by a spondee of equal duration. G. in ancient poetry was the most common meter, ch. arr. in the heroic epic, which is why it was called heroic or epic verse. G. wrote “Iliad”, “Odyssey”, “Aeneid” and others (see Metrical versification).

II. Tonic. In language with tonic versification (see) - e.g. Russian, German - G. is one of the types of accented verse and usually represents verse with six stresses, with one or, more often, two unstressed syllables between stresses (i.e., according to the syllabic-tonic theory, a six-foot dactyl with the possible replacement of each dactylic foot - trochaic) and with a middle caesura (usually after the seventh syllable): “here there is a majestic noise | and (U) maple and (U) tall canopy.” Sometimes in G. one or two stresses are missed (usually at the beginning of a verse), for example: “But it’s not just me that is crushed by the fate of Ilion” or: “I’m afraid to jump, I’m filled with bewilderment,” etc. Sometimes extra stresses are inserted . So. arr. G. is one of the types of dactylo-trochaic verse, the main feature of which is the fluctuation in the number of unstressed syllables between stressed syllables from one to two. This type of architecture arises as an imitation of antiquity and becomes widespread, especially in Germany, where it is cultivated by Klopstock (“Messiad”), Goethe (“Herman and Dorothea”), and in Russia. Here, at first, Tredyakovsky intensively develops it (“Tilemakhida”); later, interest in it increased in connection with Gnedich’s translation of the Iliad, after which G. became widespread (Zhukovsky, Delvig, Fet, etc.). Now G. is rarely used (for example, by P. Radimov and R. Akulshin). See "Tonic versification".

Literary encyclopedia. - At 11 t.; M.: Publishing House of the Communist Academy, Soviet Encyclopedia, Fiction. Edited by V. M. Fritsche, A. V. Lunacharsky. 1929-1939 .

Hexameter

(Greek hexametros - six-dimensional), the oldest form of ancient verse, existing since the time Homer. In Russian in syllabonics it is imitated in two ways: using pure hexameter dactyl(this is the “Odyssey” translated by V.A. Zhukovsky) or by alternating dactyl stops and chorea(this is the “Iliad” translated by N.I. Gnedich). In the latter case, there are more dactyls in the line than trochees. Any of the six dactylic feet, except the fifth, can be replaced with a chorea foot. Caesura at the same time, it can “float” within the third foot (usually between the first and second syllables, but sometimes between the second and third).

Literature and language. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman. Edited by prof. Gorkina A.P. 2006 .

See what "Hexameter" is in other dictionaries:

- (Greek hexametron, from hex six, and metron measure). A poetic meter consisting of 6 feet, of which the first four are dactyls or spondees, the 5th is a dactyl, and the 6th is a spondee or trochae. Properties Greek language Dictionary of foreign words included in... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

HEXAMETER, (hexameter) male. hexameter verse, where the foot consists of two long, or one long and two short syllables; a strict hexameter consists of four dactyls or spondees, the fifth is a dactyl, and the sixth is a spondee or trochae. Russians... ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

hexameter- a, m. hexamètre m. , gr. hex six + metron measure. Six-foot dactylic poetic meter, developed in ancient poetry. MAS 2. Exameter. 1735. Thread. New and short. the method of addition grew. poems. If the verse is hexameter and pentameter... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

- (from the Greek hexametros six-foot), the poetic meter of ancient epic poetry: six-foot dactyl with a caesura (pause), usually cutting the verse on the 3rd foot (Iliad, Odyssey). In syllabic tonic versification it is conveyed by the combination... ... Modern encyclopedia

- (from the Greek hexametros hexameter) poetic meter of ancient epic poetry: hexameter dactyl, in which the first 4 feet can be replaced by spondees (in syllabic tonic imitations of the hexameter by trochees). V.K. was introduced into Russian poetry... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

HEXAMETER, hexameter, male. (Greek hexametron) (lit.). A type of hexameter verse among the Greeks and Romans, consisting of five dactyls (or spondees) and the last foot of a spondea, as well as an imitation of this verse in modern literature. “Hexameter sacred chants... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

HEXAMETER, ah, husband. Poetic meter: in ancient versification there is a hexameter dactyl, in Russian there is a hexameter dactyl with a trochaic ending. | adj. hexametric, aya, oh. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Noun, number of synonyms: 3 dactyl (4) meter (43) verse (38) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin... Synonym dictionary

Meter in versification, in which each verse consists of six feet, namely: five dactyls (II) and one spondee or trocheus (or I). Each of the first four dactyls can be replaced by a spondee, but in the fifth foot such a replacement occurs very... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Hexameter- (from the Greek hexametros six-foot), the poetic meter of ancient epic poetry: six-foot dactyl with a caesura (pause), usually cutting the verse on the 3rd foot (“Iliad”, “Odyssey”). In syllabic tonic versification it is conveyed by the combination... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

• Alexandrian philology and Homeric hexameter, V.V. Faier. The Ptolemaic Library of Alexandria is the birthplace of European philology. Zenodotus, Aristophanes and Aristarchus, who headed it in the 3rd-2nd centuries, were primarily engaged in textual criticism...

What is a "hexameter"? How to spell this word correctly. Concept and interpretation.

hexameter HEXA?METER (Greek ????????? - six-dimensional) - ancient poetic meter, six-foot dactyl. According to legend, G. was invented in ancient Delphi and was initially used in religious hymns, and then was used as a high form of verse in poetic works of a heroic nature (the poems of Homer). In Roman poetry, G. was first used by Ennius, the author of the epic work “Annals”; after him, Lucretius, Cicero, Virgil, and Ovid wrote G. Ancient G. is rightly considered the perfect form of verse rhythm: the most capacious in its rhythmic volume is the four-beat (quadruple) dactylic foot??????, replaced by the four-beat spondee?????????? (the latter is not used only in the first and sixth feet of G.), gives 32 combinations. The most common caesuras in G.: caesura after the third foot, dividing the verse into two equal hemistiches | ?????? | ?????? | ?????? || ?????? | ?????? | ????? /\\ | , and a double caesura dividing the verse into three parts | ?????? | ?????? || ?????? | ?????? || ?????? | ????? /\\ | . The verbal stress in ancient G. (as well as in other ancient meters) can fall on any part of the dactylic or spondeic foot, as a result of which the rhythm of the verse here is mixed - constant and inverted. The reading of ancient four-part syllables should take place in the form of clear chanting, observing the bipartite extension of long syllables in the dactyl and spondee. The chanting of ancient G. in a three-part manner, without observing long syllables, customary in Western Europe and Russia, is incorrect; it changes the rhythm of the ancient verse, emphasizing only the first syllable of the tripartite. This reading of G. ignores the stressed syllables of Greek words when these syllables fall on the weak lobes of the foot. The result is a monotonous, constant rhythm of Greek and Greek words are distorted by artificial accents. The first attempt to apply the four-part ancient G. in Russian verse belongs to Meletiy Smotritsky, who in his “Grammar”, published in 1619, arbitrarily established long and short syllables for the Slavic-Russian language and gave an example of ancient “iroic” verse consisting of dactyls and spondees. Smotritsky’s attempt, bold for its time, was not supported. The three-part imitation of the ancient rhythm in the form in which it is known now belongs to V. Trediakovsky, who called this measure dactylo-trochaic. V. Trediakovsky was the first to give examples (and sometimes brilliant ones) of imitated three-lobed G., which, however, is far from the original ancient example. The sound of G. by A. Radishchev is excellent. The Russian imitated G. has an 18-lobed volume, each foot is three-lobed (3?6=18), while the ancient G. is 24-lobed and each foot is four-lobed (4?6=24). Russian G. can also be converted into a 24-beat one by extending the first syllable in the foot. Systematic accentuation of only the first syllable in a three-beat foot creates a monotonous, constant rhythm of verse, while free accentuation in the ancient four-beat foot makes the rhythm of the poem richer. The control series of Russian simulated G. is as follows: | ???? | ???? | ???? || ???? | ???? | ??? /\\ | . Caesura in Russian G. can be masculine, feminine and dactylic, as can be seen from the following example: | Got up from | darkness mla | giving with pers | tami pur | purple | Eos, /\\ | | Bed by | threw tog | yes and cart | beloved | son Odis | eev. /\\ | | Dress on | dev, refined | your own | sword on shoulder | what is he doing | weighed; /\\ | | After by | soles kra | gray | to light but | uproar | lice, /\\ | | Left | bedrooms... (“Odyssey”, trans. V. Zhukovsky) Many Russian poets wrote three-part imitations of G. - A. Pushkin, M. Lermontov, A. Fet, N. Shcherbina, A. Maikov, L. Mei, V. Bryusov, A. Blok, Vyach. Ivanov, P. Radimov and others. The experiments of P. Radimov, who in his G. idyllically depicted the life of an old Russian village, are very interesting. In Russian G., the three-lobed foot is sometimes replaced by a two-syllable group, incorrectly called trochee (hence the ancient name of G. - dactylo-trochaic size). In this case, the first syllable of the foot is stretched twice as much as the ordinary syllable of the foot, but the tripartite structure of the foot is preserved; in other cases, a monocotyledon pause is allowed in the foot. For example: | In that with two | re and in pa | latakh me | tezh /\\ vos | became preve | face /\\ | | Heard | all the time | shout: /\\ tsa | rya /\\ not | it has become! Scone | I was worried! /\\ | | Te ustra | sewed; other | gye hwa | melt about | gun | hastily; /\\ | | Consequences bo | I'm | all: what | died | the king does not go | they growl. /\\ | (V. Trediakovsky) | Chi-isty | shines | floor; /\\ stack | linen | blis bowls | are melting. /\\ | (A. Pushkin) Russian poets have the opportunity to create a four-part hexameter that is not inferior to ancient rhythm. To do this, you need to turn to the practice of folk verse in a four-part system (lyrics, historical songs, epics, ditties). In the ancient hexameter, only three modifications of the quadripartite were used: ?????? (dactyl), ?????????? (spondee) and????? ^ (at the end of the verse). Many modifications were not used: ?????, ???? ^ , ? ? ^? ^??? ^ ^ , ?????, ???? ^ , ?? ^ ^ ^, etc. The inclusion of these modifications, used in Russian folk quadrats, would expand the rhythmic resources of our domestic rhythm. Here is an experimental example of a quadripartite belonging to the author of these lines, in which a number of others have been added to the ancient modifications: | In pu-urpur, | ble-eske and | dy-ymah, le | sa painted | vav /\\ pose | lo-otoy, /\\ | | Illuminating | pink | light /\\ | string | rye /\\ and pshe | ni-itsu, /\\ | | In vi-izge stri | zhey /\\ naked | dead and stranded | ka-anii | la astochka | quick, /\\ | | Down /\\holo | howl /\\ be-ez | shu-clever /\\ | fell you | zhe-oloe | co-sun. /\\ | Here the following six rhythmic modifications of the quadripartite are found successively: ???????, ?????, ?? ^ ??, ?????? ^ , ?????, ?????.

hexameter- HEXAMETER, (hexameter) m. six-foot verse, where the foot consists of two long ones, or one do... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

hexameter- HEXAMETER, Tsa, m. Poetic size: in ancient versification H six-foot dactyl, in Russian Ch...