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catalectic

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A catalectic line is a metrically incomplete line of verse, lacking a syllable at the end or ending with an incomplete foot. One form of catalexis is headlessness, where the unstressed syllable is dropped from the beginning of the line.

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9 sections
Contents
  • In English
  • Blunt and pendant catalexis
  • Quantitative metres
  • In ancient Greek
  • In Latin poetry
  • In classical Persian
  • Catalexis in music
  • See also
  • References

A catalectic line is a metrically incomplete line of verse, lacking a syllable at the end or ending with an incomplete foot. One form of catalexis is headlessness, where the unstressed syllable is dropped from the beginning of the line.

A line missing two syllables is called brachycatalectic. A line with an additional syllable is called hypercatalectic.

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