Hemistich

Hemistich

A hemistich is a half-line of verse, followed and preceded by a caesura, that makes up a single overall prosodic or verse unit. In Classical poetry, the hemistich is generally confined to drama. In Greek tragedy, characters exchanging clipped dialog to suggest rapidity and drama would speak in hemistichs (in "hemistichomythia"). The Roman poet Virgil employed hemistichs in "Aeneid" to indicate great duress in his characters, where they were incapable of forming complete lines due to emotional or physical pain.

In neo-classicism, the hemistich was frowned upon (e.g. by John Dryden), but Germanic poetry employed the hemistich as a basic component of verse. In Old English and Old Norse poetry, each line of alliterative verse was divided into an "a-verse" and "b-verse" hemistich with a strong caesura between. In "Beowulf," there are only five basic types of hemistich, with some used only as initial hemistichs and some only as secondary hemistichs. Furthermore, Middle English poetry also employed the hemistich as a coherent unit of verse, with both the Pearl Poet and Layamon using a regularized set of principles for which metrical (as well as alliterative) forms were allowed in which hemistich position.

References

*Brogan, T. V. F., Roger A. Hornsby, and Thomas Cable. "Hemistich." In Alex Preminger and T.V.F. Brogan, eds. "The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics." Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton UP, 1993. 514.


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  • Hemistich — Hem i*stich (?; 277), n. [L. hemistichium, Gr. hmisti chion; hmi half + sti chos row, line, verse: cf. F. h[ e]mistiche.] Half a poetic verse or line, or a verse or line not completed. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • hemistich — half a poetic line, 1570s, from M.Fr. hémistiche, from L. hemistichium, from Gk. hemistikhion half line, half verse, from hemi half (see HEMI (Cf. hemi )) + stikhos row, line of verse (see STAIR (Cf. stair)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • hemistich — [hem′i stik΄] n. [L hemistichium < Gr hēmistichion < hēmi, half + stichos, a row, line, verse: see STICH] half a line of verse, esp. either half created by the chief caesura, or rhythmic pause in the middle of a line …   English World dictionary

  • hemistich — noun Etymology: Latin hemistichium, from Greek hēmistichion, from hēmi + stichos line, verse; akin to Greek steichein to go more at stair Date: 1575 half a poetic line of verse usually divided by a caesura …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • hemistich — См. emistichio …   Пятиязычный словарь лингвистических терминов

  • hemistich — hemistichal /heuh mis ti keuhl, hem i stik euhl/, adj. /hem i stik /, n. Pros. 1. the exact or approximate half of a stich, or poetic verse or line, esp. as divided by a caesura or the like. 2. an incomplete line, or a line of less than the usual …   Universalium

  • hemistich — noun a) An approximate half line of verse, separated from another by a caesura, often for dramatic effect b) An unfinished line of verse …   Wiktionary

  • hemistich — n. (Prose) incomplete line, unusually short line; one half of a verse or line (of text) …   English contemporary dictionary

  • hemistich — [ hɛmɪstɪk] noun (chiefly in Old English verse) a half of a line of verse. Origin C16: via late L. from Gk hēmistikhion, from hēmi half + stikhos row, line of verse …   English new terms dictionary

  • hemistich — n. Half a verse, half a line …   New dictionary of synonyms

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