Molossus (poetry)

A Molossus is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. It consists of three long syllables. In English poetry, syllables are usually categorized as being either stressed or unstressed, rather than long or short.

For example, the first line of the following verse is a molossus:

Break, break, break,

On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!

And I would that my tongue could utter

The thoughts that arise in me.

'Break, break, break, Alfred Lord Tennyson, (in memory of Arthur Hallam)

Like the spondee, the molossus is rare in English poetry, but can usually be created by using an adjective-adjective-noun combination, as in W.S. Gilbert's "To Sit in Solemn Silence."

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'!'

The dramatic effect of a molossus is central to the short story "Cousin Teresa" by Saki:

“The inspiration came to me whilst I was dressing,” announced Lucas; “it will be the thing in the next music-hall revue. All London will go mad over it. It’s just a couplet; of course there will be other words, but they won’t matter. Listen:

Cousin Teresa takes out Cæsar,

Fido, Jock, and the big borzoi.

A lifting, catchy sort of refrain, you see, and big-drum business on the two syllables of bor-zoi. It’s immense.”

The story satirizes how the public attention is more easily held by the rhythm of a pop song than by political affairs.