An alexandrine is a line of poetic meter. In Poetry, the meter or metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse. Alexandrines are common in the German literature of the Baroque period and in French poetry of the early modern and modern periods. German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. Poets who have written in the French language: A Guillaume Apollinaire Louis Aragon Agrippa d'Aubigné Drama in English often used alexandrines before Marlowe and Shakespeare, by whom it was supplanted by iambic pentameter (5-foot verse). Drama is the specific mode of Fiction represented in Performance. William Shakespeare ( baptised Iambic pentameter is a type of meter that is used in Poetry and Drama.

Syllabic verse

In syllabic verse, such as that used in French literature, an alexandrine is a line of twelve syllables. Syllabic verse is a Poetic form having a fixed number of Syllables per Line This article is a general introduction to French literature For detailed information on French literature in specific historic periods see the separate historical articles in the Most commonly, the line is divided into two equal parts by a caesura between the sixth and seventh syllables. In meter, caesura (alternative spellings are cæsura or cesura) is a term to denote an audible pause that breaks up a line of verse Alternatively, the line is divided into three four-syllable sections by two caesuras.

The dramatic works of Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine are typically composed of rhyming alexandrine couplets. Pierre Corneille ( June 6, 1606 – October 1, 1684) was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth Century French Jean Racine ( ( December 22, 1639 &ndash April 21, 1699) was a French Dramatist, one of the "big three" of (The caesura after the 6th syllable is here marked || )

Nous partîmes cinq cents ; || mais par un prompt renfort

Nous nous vîmes trois mille || en arrivant au port

(Corneille, Le Cid Act IV , scene 3)

Baudelaire's Les Bijoux (The Jewels) is a typical example of the use of the alexandrine in 19th century French poetry :

La très-chère était nue, || et, connaissant mon cœur,

Elle n'avait gardé || que ses bijoux sonores,

Dont le riche attirail || lui donnait l'air vainqueur

Qu'ont dans leurs jours heureux || les esclaves des Mores.

Even a 20th century Surrealist, such as Paul Éluard used alexandrines on occasion, such as in these lines from L'Égalité des sexes (in Capitale de la douleur) (note the variation between caesuras after the 6th syllable, and after 4th and 8th):

Ni connu la beauté || des yeux, beauté des pierres,

Celle des gouttes d'eau, || des perles en placard,

Des pierres nues || et sans squelette, || ô ma statue

Accentual verse

In accentual verse, it is a line of iambic hexameter - a line of six feet or measures ("iambs"), each of which has two syllables with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Paul Éluard was the Pen name of Eugène Émile Paul Grindel ( 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952) a French Accentual verse has a fixed number of stresses per Line or Stanza regardless of the number of syllables that are present An iamb or iambus is a Metrical foot used in various types of Poetry. Hexameter is a literary and poetic form consisting of six metrical feet per line as in the Iliad. It is also usual for there to be a caesura between the sixth and seventh syllables (as the examples from Pope below illustrate). Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 – 30 May 1744 is generally regarded as the greatest English Poet of the eighteenth century best known for his Satirical Robert Bridges noted that in the lyrical sections of Samson Agonistes, Milton significantly varied the placement of the caesura. Robert Seymour Bridges, OM, ( 23 October 1844 &ndash 21 April 1930) was an Samson Agonistes ( Greek: "Samson the agonist " is a tragic Closet drama by John Milton. John Milton ( 9 December, 1608 – 8 November, 1674) was an English Poet, Prose Polemicist and

In the poetry of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene 8 lines of pentameter are followed by an alexandrine, the 6-foot line slowing the regular rhythm of the 5-foot lines. Edmund Spenser (c 1552 &ndash 13 January, 1599) was an important English Poet and Poet Laureate best known for The The Faerie Queene is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser, published first in three books in 1590 and later in six books in 1596 After Spenser, alexandrine couplets were used by Michael Drayton in his Poly-Olbion. Michael Drayton (1563 &ndash December 23, 1631) was an English Poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. The Poly-Olbion is a Topographical poem describing England and Wales.

Alexander Pope famously characterized the alexandrine's potential to slow or speed the flow of a poem, in two a rhyming couplets consisting of an iambic pentameter followed by an alexandrine:

A needless alexandrine ends the song

that like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along. Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 – 30 May 1744 is generally regarded as the greatest English Poet of the eighteenth century best known for his Satirical A couplet is a pair of lines of verse. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter

A few lines later Pope continues:

Not so, when swift Camilla scours the Plain,

Flies o'er th'unbending corn and skims along the Main.

Alexandrines are sometimes introduced into predominantly pentameter verse for the sake of variety. The Spenserian stanza, for instance, is eight lines of pentameter followed by an alexandrine. The Spenserian stanza is a fixed verse form invented by Edmund Spenser for his epic poem The Faerie Queene. Alexandrines appear rarely in Shakespeare's blank verse. William Shakespeare ( baptised Blank verse is a type of Poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter, but no Rhyme. In the Restoration and eighteenth century, poetry written in couplets is sometimes varied by the introduction of a triplet in which the third line is an alexandrine, as in this example from Dryden, which introduces a triplet after two couplets:

But satire needs not those, and wit will shine

Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line:

A noble error, and but seldom made,

When poets are by too much force betrayed. The English Restoration, or simply The Restoration began in 1660 when the English monarchy, Scottish monarchy and Irish monarchy were restored John Dryden (– was an influential English poet Literary critic, Translator and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England

Thy generous fruits, though gathered ere their prime,

Still showed a quickness; and maturing time

But mellows what we write to the dull sweets of rhyme.

Origin

There is some doubt as to the origin of the name; but most probably it is derived from a collection of Alexandrine romances, collected in the 12th century, of which Alexander the Great was the hero, and in which he was represented, somewhat like the British Arthur, as the pride and crown of chivalry. Alexander romance is any of several collections of legends concerning the mythical exploits of Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' King Arthur is a legendary British leader who according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against the Saxon invaders Before the publication of this work most of the trouvère romances appeared in octosyllabic verse. Trouvère ( MWCD: /trü'ver trü'vər/ sometimes spelled trouveur, is the Northern French ( Langue d'oïl) form of the word Troubadour There is also a theory that the form was invented by a poet named Alexander. Alexander of Paris, also known as Alexander of Bernay, was a Norman Poet of the 12th century, who wrote Li romans d'Alexandre The new work, which was henceforth to set the fashion to French literature, was written in lines of twelve syllables, but with a freedom of pause which was afterwards greatly curtailed. The new fashion, however, was not adopted all at once. The metre fell into disuse until the reign of Francis I, when it was revived by Jean-Antoine de Baïf, one of the seven poets known as La Pléiade. Francis I (September 12 1494 &ndash March 31 1547 was crowned King of France in 1515 in the cathedral at Reims and reigned until 1547 Jean Antoine de Baïf ( February 19, 1532 - September 19, 1589) was a French Poet and member of the This article is about French poetry For other uses see Pleiades (disambiguation The Pléiade is the name given to a group of 16th-century

References

• Robert Bridges, Milton's Prosody (book). Milton's Prosody, or in full Milton's Prosody with a chapter on Accentual Verse and Notes is a book by Robert Bridges.
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone