acrosticism the art or skill of writing a poem in which the lines or stanzas begin with letters of the alphabet in regular order or one in which the first, middle, or final letters of the line spell a word or a phrase. acrostic, n., adj. Alexandrine an iambic hexameter, or iambic verse with six feet. anapest a foot of three syllables, the first two short or unstressed, the third long or stressed. anapestic, adj. antibacchius 1. (in quantitative meter) two long syllables followed by a short. 2. (in accented meter) two stressed syllables followed by an unstressed. Cf. bacchius. antibacchic, adj. antistrophe the second of two metrically related sections in a poem. Cf. strophe. See also 127. DRAMA . antistrophic, antistrophal , adj. arsis the accented part of a foot of verse. bacchius 1. (in quantitative meter) a short syllable followed by two long. 2. (in accented meter) an unstressed syllable followed by two stressed. Cf. antibacchius . bacchic , adj. bardism 1. the art or skill of one who composes and recites epic or heroic poetry, often to his own musical accompaniment. 2. membership in an ancient Celtic order of poets. canto one of the main (larger) divisions in a long poem. catalexis incompleteness of a foot, wherever it appears in a verse. catalectic, adj. dactyl a foot of three syllables, the flrst long or accented, the following two short or unaccented. dactylist, n. dactylic, adj. diastole (in Greek and Latin verse) the lengthening of a short syllable. Cf. systole. diastolic, adj. dipody a double foot; a pair of similar feet comprising a metrical unit. dipodic, adj. distich a couplet or pair of verses or lines, usually read as a unit. ecthlipsis (in Latin prosody) the elision of the last syllable of a word ending in m when the following word begins with a vowel. heptameter a verse having seven metrical feet. heptametrical, adj. heptapody a verse having seven metrical feet; a heptameter. heptapodic, adj. hexameter a verse having six metrical feet. hexametrical, adj. hexapody a verse having six metrical feet; a hexameter. hexapodous, adj. iamb a foot of two syllables, the first short or unstressed, the second long or stressed. iambic, adj. ictus the stress or accent that indicates the rhythm of a verse or piece of music. See also 284. MUSIC . lettrism a technique of poetic composition originated by Isidore Isou, characterized by strange or meaningless arrangements of letters. logaoedic a poem or verse composed of dactyls and trochees or anapests and iambs, resulting in a proselike rhythm. logaoedic, adj. lyricism the practice of writing verse in song form rather than narrative form to embody the poets thoughts and emotions. Also lyrism. lyricist, n. lyrical, adj. lyrism lyricism. lyrist, n. madrigal a lyric poem suitable for setting to music, usually with love as a theme. madrigalist, n. metricism 1. any of various theories and techniques of metrical composition. 2. the study of metrics. metricist, n. metrics 1. the science of meter. metricist, n. 2. the art of composing metrical verse. metrician, metrist, n. metromania an abnormal compulsion for writing verse. monopody a verse consisting of one foot. monopodic, adj. octonary a stanza of eight lines; an octave. octonary, adj. orthometry 1. the laws of versification. 2. the art or practice of applying these laws. pentameter a verse of five metrical feet. pentapody a line of verse containing five feet. poesy 1. Archaic. poetry. 2. Obsolete, a poem. poetastery poor or mediocre poetry. poeticism the qualities of bad poetry: trite subject matter, banal or archaic and poetical language, easy rhymes, jingling rhythms, sentimentality, etc; the standards of a poetaster. poetics 1. Lit. Crit. the nature and laws of poetry. 2. the study of prosody. 3. a treatise on poetry. 4. (cap. ) a treatise or collection of lecture notes on aesthetics composed by Aristotle. proceleusmatic a metrical foot of four short syllables. proceleusmatic, adj. prosody 1. the science or study of poetic meters and versification. 2. a particular or distinctive system of metrics and versification, as that of Dylan Thomas. prosodist, n. prosodie, prosodical, adj. pyrrhic a metrical foot composed of two short or unaccented syllables. pyrrhic, adj. rhapsodism the professional recitation of epic poems. rhapsodist, n. rhapsodomancy a form of divination involving verses. rhopalism 1. the art or skill of writing verse in which each successive word in a line is longer by one syllable than the preceding word or in which each line of verse is longer by a syllable or a metrical foot than the preceding line. 2. an instanceof rhopalicform. rhopalist, n. rhopalic, adj. rhymester a poetaster or poet of little worth; a mere versifier. scansion the analysis of verse into i