Dactyl
An element of meter in poetry. In quantitative verse, such as Greek or Latin, a dactyl is a long syllable followed by two short syllables. In accentual verse, such as English, it is a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.
Example
An example of dactylic meter is the first line of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Evangeline, which is in dactylic hexameter:
This is the / forest prim- / eval. The / murmuring / pines and the / hemlocks,
[n] a finger or toe in human beings or corresponding part in other vertebrates
[n] a metrical unit with stressed-unstressed-unstressed syllables
Related Information
More Dactyl Links
- See poems containing the word: Dactyl.
- See quotes containing the word: Dactyl.
- How many syllables are in Dactyl.
- What rhymes with Dactyl?
Related Terms
accent, accentuation, Alexandrine, amphibrach, amphimacer, anacrusis, anapest, antispast, arsis, bacchius, beat, cadence, caesura, catalexis, chloriamb, chloriambus, colon, counterpoint, cretic, dactylic hexameter, diaeresis, dimeter, dipody, dochmiac, el