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| Disyllables | |
|---|---|
| ◡ ◡ | pyrrhic, dibrach |
| ◡ – | iamb |
| – ◡ | trochee, choree |
| – – | spondee |
| Trisyllables | |
| ◡ ◡ ◡ | tribrach |
| – ◡ ◡ | dactyl |
| ◡ – ◡ | amphibrach |
| ◡ ◡ – | anapaest, antidactylus |
| ◡ – – | bacchius |
| – ◡ – | cretic, amphimacer |
| – – ◡ | antibacchius |
| – – – | molossus |
| Seemain article for tetrasyllables. | |
Acretic (/ˈkriːtɪk/KREE-tik), also known as anamphimacer (/æmˈfɪməsər/am-FIM-ə-sər) and sometimespaeon diagyios,[1] is ametrical foot containing three syllables: long, short, long (– ᴗ –). In Greek poetry, lines made entirely of cretic feet are less common than other metres. An example isAlcman 58.[2] However, any line mixingiambs andtrochees could employ a cretic foot as a transition. In other words, a poetic line might have two iambs and two trochees, with a cretic foot in between.
In later poets the cretic foot could be resolved into a paeonic (ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ – or – ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ) or sometimes even five short syllables (ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ).[3]
In Latin, cretics were used for composition both in comedy and tragedy. They are fairly frequent inPlautus but rarer inTerence. (SeeMetres of Roman comedy.)
Words which include a cretic (e.g.Latincīvitās and its various inflections) cannot be used in works composed indactylic hexameter ordactylic pentameter.
ForRomance language poetry, the cretic has been a common form infolk poetry, whether inproverbs or tags. Additionally, someEnglish poets have responded to the naturally iambic nature of English and the need for a trochaic initial substitution to employ a cretic foot. That is, it is commonplace for English poetry to employ a trochee in the first position of an otherwise iambic line, and some poets have consciously worked with cretic lines and fully cretic measures.English Renaissance songs employed creticdimeter fairly frequently (e.g. "Shall I die? Shall I fly?" attributed toWilliam Shakespeare). Because the cretic, in stress-based prosody, is natural for a comparison orantithesis, it is well suited toadvertising slogans and adages.