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Is there even such a thing as "English hexameters"? From what I remember from high school hexameter is based on the feature of the Greek language having both "s
by Detrytus 2y ago
Is there even such a thing as "English hexameters"? From what I remember from high school hexameter is based on the feature of the Greek language having both "short" and "long" vowels, which is then used to create a particular rhythm. My mother's tongue does not have such feature which makes it impossible to make real hexameters in it. Translations do not even try to imitate it.
- troad 2y agoHexameter just means that the lines have six feet. What counts as a foot in a language will differ, e.g. English feet are based on stress, whereas Ancient Greek feet are based on length. For example, in Ancient Greek, an iamb would be a short syllable followed by a long one (e.g. 'Δάφνη' - Daphne, which in A.G. was pronounced something like 'daph-neh', with the 'neh' held long), whereas in English it's an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one (e.g. 'become').