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{{Metrical feet}}
{{Metrical feet}}
A '''molossus''' is a [[metrical foot]] used in Greek and Latin [[poetry]]. It consists of three [[long syllable]]s. Examples of Latin words constituting molossi are ''audiri, cantabant, virtutem''.
A '''molossus''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ə|ˈ|l|ɒ|s|ə|s}}) is a [[metrical foot]] used in Greek and Latin [[poetry]]. It consists of three [[long syllable]]s.<ref name="WoodRobinson1943">{{cite book|author1=Clement Wood|author2=Ted Robinson|title=Unabridged Rhyming Dictionary|url=https://archive.org/details/woodsunabridgedr00wood|url-access=registration|year=1943|publisher=World Publishing Company}}</ref> Examples of Latin words constituting molossi are ''audiri, cantabant, virtutem''.


In English poetry, syllables are usually categorized as being either stressed or unstressed, rather than long or short, and the molossus appears rarely. There is a sustained example in the Mikado by WS Gilbert:
In English poetry, syllables are usually categorized as being either stressed or unstressed, rather than long or short, and the unambiguous molossus rarely appears, as it is too easily interpreted as two feet (and thus a metrical fault) or as having at least one destressed syllable.


Perhaps the best example of a molossus is the repeated refrain of ''no birds sing'' in the first and last verse of [[John Keats]]'s poem "[[La Belle Dame sans Merci|La Belle Dame Sans Merci]]" (1819) especially for the way it forces the reader to slow down, which is the poetic essence of this metrical foot.
To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock,
In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock,
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock,
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!


{{poemquote|Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
And this from La Belle Dame Sans Merci by Keats:
Alone and palely loitering?
⚫
The sedge has withered from the lake
⚫
And no birds sing.}}


The title of [[Lord Tennyson]]'s poem "[[Break, Break, Break]]" (1842) is sometimes cited as a molossus, but in context it can only be three separate feet:
⚫
The sedge has withered from the lake,
⚫
And no birds sing.


{{poemquote|Break, / break, / break,
⚫
Another example has been found in [[Gerard Manley Hopkins]]:<ref>''A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory.'' By John Anthony Cuddon, Claire Preston. Wiley-Blackwell, 1998.</ref>
At the foot / of thy crags, / O sea;
⚫
:As a dare-gale skylark scanted in a dull cage
But the ten- / -der grace / of the day / that is dead
⚫
:Man's mounting spirit in his bone-house, '''mean house, dwells'''
Will never / come back / to me.}}


[[Clement Wood]] proposes as a more convincing instance: ''great white chief'',<ref name="WoodRobinson1943"/> of which an example occurs in "Ballads of a Cheechako" (1907) by [[Robert W. Service]]:
The molossus is used quite often in proper names. For example, Great North Road.


{{poemquote|For thus the / Great White Chief / hath said, / "In all / my lands / be peace".<ref name="Service1910">{{cite book|author=Robert William Service|title=Ballads of a Cheechako, by Robert W. Service|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=guKwmgEACAAJ|year=1910}}</ref>}}

However, given that the previous lines<ref>{{Wikisource-inline|Clancy of the Mounted Police}}</ref> in the stanza are constructed predominantly in [[Fourteener (poetry)|iambic heptameter]] – a common form for ballad stanza – it is more likely that the meter appears as:

{{poemquote|For '''thus''' / the '''Great''' / '''White Chief''' / hath '''said,''' / "In '''all''' / my '''lands''' / be '''peace'''".}}

The double stress on "White Chief" comes from the substitution of a spondee in place of the iamb, mirroring previous substitutions in the poem, rather than a molossus.

⚫
In one literary dictionary, a dubious candidate is given from [[Gerard Manley Hopkins]]:<ref>''A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory.'' By John Anthony Cuddon, Claire Preston. Wiley-Blackwell, 1998.</ref>

⚫
{{poemquote|As a dare-gale / skylark / scanted in a / dull cage
⚫
Man's mounting / spirit in his / bone-house, / '''mean house, dwells'''}}

If both lines are scanned as four feet, without extra stress on ''dwells'', then the words in boldface become a molossus. Another example that has been given<ref>''The Psychology of Art.'' By Robert Morris Ogden. C. Scribner's Sons, 1938. Page 107.</ref> is ''wild-goose-chase'', but this requires that there be no stress on ''chase'', seeing that in Thomas Clarke's "Erotophuseos" (1840), we have:

{{poemquote|And led / me im- / -percept- / -ibly,
A wild- / goose chase, / far far / away,}}

where clearly there is no molossus.

== See also ==
* ''[[En rythme molossique]]'', an [[étude]] for piano by [[Charles-Valentin Alkan]] that uses the rhythm of the molossus as a theme

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Poetry-stub}}
{{Poetry-stub}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molossus (Poetry)}}
[[Category:Metrical feet]]
[[Category:Metrical feet]]

[[de:Molossos]]

Latest revision as of 15:47, 10 October 2024

Metrical feet and accents
Disyllables
◡ ◡pyrrhic, dibrach
◡ –iamb
– ◡trochee, choree
– –spondee
Trisyllables
◡ ◡ ◡tribrach
– ◡ ◡dactyl
◡ – ◡amphibrach
◡ ◡ –anapaest, antidactylus
◡ – –bacchius
– ◡ –cretic, amphimacer
– – ◡antibacchius
– – –molossus
See main article for tetrasyllables.

A molossus (/məˈlɒsəs/) is a metrical foot used in Greek and Latin poetry. It consists of three long syllables.[1] Examples of Latin words constituting molossi are audiri, cantabant, virtutem.

In English poetry, syllables are usually categorized as being either stressed or unstressed, rather than long or short, and the unambiguous molossus rarely appears, as it is too easily interpreted as two feet (and thus a metrical fault) or as having at least one destressed syllable.

Perhaps the best example of a molossus is the repeated refrain of no birds sing in the first and last verse of John Keats's poem "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" (1819) especially for the way it forces the reader to slow down, which is the poetic essence of this metrical foot.

Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake
And no birds sing.

The title of Lord Tennyson's poem "Break, Break, Break" (1842) is sometimes cited as a molossus, but in context it can only be three separate feet:

Break, / break, / break,
At the foot / of thy crags, / O sea;
But the ten- / -der grace / of the day / that is dead
Will never / come back / to me.

Clement Wood proposes as a more convincing instance: great white chief,[1] of which an example occurs in "Ballads of a Cheechako" (1907) by Robert W. Service:

For thus the / Great White Chief / hath said, / "In all / my lands / be peace".[2]

However, given that the previous lines[3] in the stanza are constructed predominantly in iambic heptameter – a common form for ballad stanza – it is more likely that the meter appears as:

For thus / the Great / White Chief / hath said, / "In all / my lands / be peace".

The double stress on "White Chief" comes from the substitution of a spondee in place of the iamb, mirroring previous substitutions in the poem, rather than a molossus.

In one literary dictionary, a dubious candidate is given from Gerard Manley Hopkins:[4]

As a dare-gale / skylark / scanted in a / dull cage
Man's mounting / spirit in his / bone-house, / mean house, dwells

If both lines are scanned as four feet, without extra stress on dwells, then the words in boldface become a molossus. Another example that has been given[5] is wild-goose-chase, but this requires that there be no stress on chase, seeing that in Thomas Clarke's "Erotophuseos" (1840), we have:

And led / me im- / -percept- / -ibly,
A wild- / goose chase, / far far / away,

where clearly there is no molossus.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Clement Wood; Ted Robinson (1943). Unabridged Rhyming Dictionary. World Publishing Company.
  2. ^ Robert William Service (1910). Ballads of a Cheechako, by Robert W. Service.
  3. ^ Works related to Clancy of the Mounted Police at Wikisource
  4. ^ A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory. By John Anthony Cuddon, Claire Preston. Wiley-Blackwell, 1998.
  5. ^ The Psychology of Art. By Robert Morris Ogden. C. Scribner's Sons, 1938. Page 107.
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