Octosyllable
Encyclopedia
The octosyllable or octosyllabic verse is a line
of verse with eight syllable
s. It is equivalent to tetrameter
verse in iambs or trochee
s in languages with a stress accent. It is often used in French
, Italian
, Spanish
and Portuguese
poetry. While commonly used in couplet
s, typical stanza
s using octosyllables are: décima
, some quatrain
s, redondilla.
In Spanish verse, an octosyllable is a line that has its seventh syllable stressed, on the principle that this would normally be the penultimate syllable of a word (Lengua Castellana y Literatura, ed. Grazalema Santillana. El Verso y su Medida, p. 46). If the final word of a line does not fit this pattern, the line could have eight or seven or nine syllables (as normally counted), thus -
In Medieval French literature
, the octosyllable rhyme
d couplet
was the most common verse form used in verse chronicle
s, romance
s (the romans), lai
s and dit
s. The meter reached Spain in the 14th century, although commonly with a more varied rhyme scheme than the couplet. The French octosyllablic verse came to England via the Anglo-Norman poets from the 12th-13th centuries and influenced 4 stress tetrameter verse used in narration (as in Chaucer).
Meter (poetry)
In poetry, metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study of metres and forms of versification is known as prosody...
of verse with eight syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
s. It is equivalent to tetrameter
Tetrameter
Tetrameter: [ti'tramitə]; te·tram·e·ter; a verse of four measuresOrigin: early 17th century : from late Latin tetrametrus, originally neuter from Greek tetrametros 'having four measures,' from tetra- 'four' + metron 'measure'....
verse in iambs or trochee
Trochee
A trochee or choree, choreus, is a metrical foot used in formal poetry consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one...
s in languages with a stress accent. It is often used in 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...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
poetry. While commonly used in couplet
Couplet
A couplet is a pair of lines of meter in poetry. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic...
s, typical stanza
Stanza
In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...
s using octosyllables are: décima
Décima
A décima refers to a ten-line stanza of poetry, and the song form generally consists of forty-four lines...
, some quatrain
Quatrain
A quatrain is a stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines of verse. Existing in various forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and China; and, continues into the 21st century, where it is...
s, redondilla.
In Spanish verse, an octosyllable is a line that has its seventh syllable stressed, on the principle that this would normally be the penultimate syllable of a word (Lengua Castellana y Literatura, ed. Grazalema Santillana. El Verso y su Medida, p. 46). If the final word of a line does not fit this pattern, the line could have eight or seven or nine syllables (as normally counted), thus -
- 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / Gra/NA/da
- 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / Ma/DRID
- 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / MA/(la)/ga
In Medieval French literature
Medieval French literature
Medieval French literature is, for the purpose of this article, literature written in Oïl languages during the period from the eleventh century to the end of the fifteenth century....
, the octosyllable rhyme
Rhyme
A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.-Etymology:...
d couplet
Couplet
A couplet is a pair of lines of meter in poetry. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic...
was the most common verse form used in verse chronicle
Chronicle
Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the...
s, romance
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
s (the romans), lai
Lai
A lai is a lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure and romance.Lais were mainly composed in France and Germany, during the 13th and 14th centuries. A Provençal term for a similar kind of poem is descort.The English term lay is a...
s and dit
DIT
DIT is a three letter abbreviation that can mean:*Defining Issues Test - a quantitative test of moral reasoning by James Rest*Dehradun Institute of Technology, Dehradun - a premier engineering college of India*Delhi Institute of Technology...
s. The meter reached Spain in the 14th century, although commonly with a more varied rhyme scheme than the couplet. The French octosyllablic verse came to England via the Anglo-Norman poets from the 12th-13th centuries and influenced 4 stress tetrameter verse used in narration (as in Chaucer).
See also
- meter (poetry)Meter (poetry)In poetry, metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study of metres and forms of versification is known as prosody...
- dodecasyllableDodecasyllableDodecasyllable verse is a line of verse with twelve syllables. 12 syllable lines are used in a variety of poetic traditions, including Italian and French poetry, and in poetry of the Southern Slavs...
- 12 syllable line - decasyllableDecasyllableDecasyllable is a poetic meter of ten syllables used in poetic traditions of syllabic verse...
- 10 syllable line