Masculine ending
Encyclopedia
Masculine ending is term used in prosody, the study of verse form. It refers to a line ending in a stressed syllable. Its opposite is feminine ending
, which describes a line ending in a stressless syllable. For example, in the following couplet by Longfellow
, the first line has a feminine ending and the second a masculine one.
When a masculine ending is rhymed, the result is called a masculine rhyme
.
The terms "masculine ending" and "feminine ending" are not based on any cultural concept of "masculinity" or "femininity". Rather, they originate from a grammatical pattern of French
, in which words of feminine grammatical gender
typically end in a stressless syllable and words of masculine gender end in a stressed syllable.
Poems often arrange their lines in patterns of masculine and feminine endings, for instance in "The song of life", from which the above couplet is taken, every couplet consists of a feminine ending followed by a masculine one.
Feminine ending
Feminine ending, in grammatical gender, is a term that refers to the final syllable or suffixed letters that mark words as feminine.It can also refer to:*Feminine ending, in meter , a line of verse that ends with an unstressed syllable...
, which describes a line ending in a stressless syllable. For example, in the following couplet by Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
, the first line has a feminine ending and the second a masculine one.
- Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
- Life is but an empty dream!
When a masculine ending is rhymed, the result is called a masculine rhyme
Masculine rhyme
A masculine rhyme is a rhyme that matches only one syllable, usually at the end of respective lines. Often the final syllable is stressed.-English:In English prosody, a masculine rhyme is a rhyme on a single stressed syllable at the end of a line of poetry...
.
The terms "masculine ending" and "feminine ending" are not based on any cultural concept of "masculinity" or "femininity". Rather, they originate from a grammatical pattern of French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, in which words of feminine grammatical gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
typically end in a stressless syllable and words of masculine gender end in a stressed syllable.
Poems often arrange their lines in patterns of masculine and feminine endings, for instance in "The song of life", from which the above couplet is taken, every couplet consists of a feminine ending followed by a masculine one.