My comments on iambic hexameter were rather brief, and didn’t do it justice. While it’s true that a phrasal juncture between the two middle beats results in two rhythmic trimeters, this can be avoided or selectively exploited; and whereas the pentameter is more tight and dynamic, the capaciousness of the hexameter can provide an elegant unfolding to the lines (the most recent example I came across of verse in this meter was a prayer by C S Lewis).
A famous line of iambic hexameter (though I wonder how many people recognise it as such!) is the first line of Ezra Pound’s In a Station of the Metro:
The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.
There’s the light, elegant expansion of the opening line, followed by the tighter, heavier headless tetrameter (the employment of the hexameter as a variant line, to provide contrast, has a long history).
This line also exemplifies the default abstract rhythm of the hexameter: three pairs of beats. The default rhythm of the pentameter, by contrast, is that of an enlarged trimeter: three primary beats that share the intervening secondary beats between them. The impossibility of dividing the pentameter in half or into equal parts is intrinsic to its dynamic qualities.
There is a level of nuance and detail in this post that even most professionals are unfamiliar with, and I also touch on variations that were specific to Shakespeare’s dramatic work (with further links). I think you might find it pretty interesting!
Thanks for linking those posts! I think I'll find them interesting too. I'm not an expert on poetic metre myself, just a Shakespeare nerd, so some additional knowledge would be good!
Poetic meter just happens to be my tiny niche of expertise, so my own posts on the topic might just interest you.
I wrote a post on “what’s so special about iambic pentameter?”, and your comments about its length are pretty much on the nose: https://williamshakespeare.quora.com/Why-Iambic-Pentameter?ch=17&oid=6241609&share=ed2e2c15&srid=LqSx&target_type=post
My comments on iambic hexameter were rather brief, and didn’t do it justice. While it’s true that a phrasal juncture between the two middle beats results in two rhythmic trimeters, this can be avoided or selectively exploited; and whereas the pentameter is more tight and dynamic, the capaciousness of the hexameter can provide an elegant unfolding to the lines (the most recent example I came across of verse in this meter was a prayer by C S Lewis).
A famous line of iambic hexameter (though I wonder how many people recognise it as such!) is the first line of Ezra Pound’s In a Station of the Metro:
The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.
There’s the light, elegant expansion of the opening line, followed by the tighter, heavier headless tetrameter (the employment of the hexameter as a variant line, to provide contrast, has a long history).
This line also exemplifies the default abstract rhythm of the hexameter: three pairs of beats. The default rhythm of the pentameter, by contrast, is that of an enlarged trimeter: three primary beats that share the intervening secondary beats between them. The impossibility of dividing the pentameter in half or into equal parts is intrinsic to its dynamic qualities.
I explain the default rhythm of the pentameter at the end of this post: https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-use-2-syllable-words-in-iambic-pentameter/answer/Keir-Fabian?ch=17&oid=305732233&share=1ce26406&srid=LqSx&target_type=answer
I provide a summary of the technical principles of iambic meter here: https://williamshakespeare.quora.com/Shakespeare-s-Rhythm-True-ease-in-writing-comes-from-art-not-chance-As-those-move-easiest-who-have-learn-d-to-da?ch=17&oid=6206614&share=3a3ae916&srid=LqSx&target_type=post
There is a level of nuance and detail in this post that even most professionals are unfamiliar with, and I also touch on variations that were specific to Shakespeare’s dramatic work (with further links). I think you might find it pretty interesting!
Thanks for linking those posts! I think I'll find them interesting too. I'm not an expert on poetic metre myself, just a Shakespeare nerd, so some additional knowledge would be good!