More Verse: Hipponactean Tetrameters

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annis
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More Verse: Hipponactean Tetrameters

Post by annis »

I motivated to play with a different metrical form last week. Technically, the verse is a trochaic tetrameter catalectic scazon. Isn't that a lovely name? Before I explain the meter, here are the symbols I'll use:

~ is a resolvable long (i.e., can be replaced by two short positions)
- is a long that must remain so
u is a short position
x is anceps, either long or short

The usual trochaic tetramenter catalectic is this:

~ u ~ x ~ u ~ x | ~ u ~ x - u - ||

The catalectic bit of the name means the last foot has the last position amputated. So here, - u - is the last trochaic metron. Most of the time the name "tetrameter" alone means this meter.

But I'm using a metrical variation created by Hipponax, "scazon" or "lame", where the last three syllables are long:

~ u ~ x ~ u ~ x | ~ u ~ x - - - ||

Hipponax wrote famously hostile verse, so his meter seemed appropriate for my mood.

ὦ σκίουρε χθόνιε, κενόφρον, ὃς λίην ταράσσεις με και ῥοδὸν καὶ θαλερὰ δένδρα, πανταχοῖ πηλὸν βάλλων ῥίζαν ἐνδάκνεις ἀκόσμως ὥστε πάντα τέθνηκεν· ζητέοντα κίρκον ἔλαθες, ὄσσε δ’ οὔτι λήσεις μου· ὅσσα σήμερον βιβρώσκεις τόσσα πιανεῖς κῆπον.

(Edit: typo - missing sigma in ἐνδάκνεις fixed.)

I'm using σκίουρος χθόνιος for "chipmunk" here. A ground squirrel is a different annoying rodent, but I could come up with nothing better.
Last edited by annis on Fri Aug 27, 2004 12:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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chad
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Post by chad »

those last words sound ominous, if i'm reading them right. i fear for the safety of that little creature :)

i really like this poem will... what verse form are you thinking of trying next? :)

annis
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Post by annis »

chad wrote:those last words sound ominous, if i'm reading them right. i fear for the safety of that little creature :)
Then you are reading them right.
i really like this poem will... what verse form are you thinking of trying next?
Well, I'm working my way up to some of the more interesting Aeolic strophic forms, but I think I might work with some more of the iambic/trochaic variety until such time as Msr. Porson and his annoying law cause me less trouble.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

whiteoctave
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Post by whiteoctave »

νῦν με ταῦτ / ἔπῆ πρὸς ἄστρα παμφαῆ βιβάζειν δεῖ διὰ καλὴν φωνήν τε καὶ σὸν μακράν, ὢ Ἄννις, τέχνην.

~D

Michaelyus
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Post by Michaelyus »

Do you have to do this in Greek? Can we do this in Latin? I don't know Greek.

annis
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Post by annis »

Michaelyus wrote:Can we do this in Latin?
Sure! The non-scazon variety goes by the name "trochaic septenarius" in Latin verse. I'm not sure if the scazon tetrameter was used in Latin, though the trimeter version certainly was.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

annis
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Post by annis »

whiteoctave wrote:νῦν με ταῦτ / ἔπῆ πρὸς ἄστρα παμφαῆ βιβάζειν δεῖ
χάριν ἔχω σοι τῶν ἐπῶν σου τῶν ἐμά γε βιβαζόντων.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

Michaelyus
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Post by Michaelyus »

Because this is a tetrameter, I hoped that an inherently short syllable on the first side of the caesura would become long if the conditions were right. I wasn't sure though.

This is to be sung by a bass playing Julius Polybius:

Quid? Quid? Ecce! Unusquisque ne sibi illud legit. Non! Cuculla et Zmyrna scorta mihi favent bini.

Awaiting your corrections.

I'm in a rush right now... so I'll refine this later.

whiteoctave
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Post by whiteoctave »

it's not a bad effort m.
i get a bit lost on the scansion:

quid quid ecc(e) = ~u~
unusquisque = ~~~u
ne sib(i) illud legit = ~u~~~~
which together gives ~u~~/~~u/~u~/~~~, so the middle two trochaic metra need some alteration.
i presume it's the -que that you thought would precede the caesura. i don't know of any such occurrences of lengthening in this verse.

the latter sentence almost works well:
non Cuculla ~u~~ (open vowels are lengthened before z, sm, sc, st, sp)
Zmyrna scorta ~u~u (strictly ~~~u, because the 'a' would be lengthened before sc-, but not to worry.)
mihi favent bini u~u/~~~
which gives ~u~~/~u~u/Xu~u/~~~ - a syllable is missing where the x is.

bini is masc., but it should either be binae (if you want it to go with the two women) or bina (if with appositional scorta), preusming of course i have interpreted you sentence correctly.

i like the sentiment!

~D

Michaelyus
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Post by Michaelyus »

I've spotted my mistake (in blue):

Quīd? quĭd? ēccĕ! ~ u ūnūs- | quīsquĕnĕ sĭb(i) īllūd lēgit. || Nōn! Cŭcūll(a) ēt Zmŷrnā | scōrtă mĭhĭ făvēnt bīnaē.

(There is no "y" with a macron in my character map)

Quīd? quĭd? ēccĕ! quīd? quĭd? ūnūs- | quīsquĕnĕ sĭb(i) īllūd lēgit. || Nōn! Cŭcūll(a) ēt Zmŷrnā | scōrtă mĭhĭ făvēnt bīnaē.

Awaiting your corrections.

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