A
lyric metre named after the
Greek poetess
Sappho. It was not nearly as common as the first
Sappic Stanza, but uses of it can still be seen in
Horace and other
Roman and
Hellenistic poets.
The metre is made up of two pairs of intermittant verses in the following scheme:
-^^-^--
-^---//^^-//-^^-^--
-^^-^--
-^---//^^-//-^^-^--
(Each of the last syllables can be replaced by short ones)
Example (in Latin):
- ^^ - ^ - -
Lydia, dic, per omnis
- ^- - - // ^ ^ - // - ^ ^ - ^ - -
hoc deus vere,// Sybarin // cur properes amando
- ^ ^ - ^ - ^
perdere, cur apricum
- ^ - - - // ^ ^- // - ^ ^ - ^ - ^
oderit campum,// patiens // pulveris atque solis,
(Hor. Od. I, VIII 1-4)
* - long or stressed syllable; ^ short or unstressed syllable; // diaeresis.