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A History of European Versification$
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A History of European Versification

M. L. Gasparov, G. S. Smith, Leofranc Holford-Strevens, G. S. Smith, and M. Tarlinskaja

Print publication date: 1996

Print ISBN-13: 9780198158790

Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011

DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198158790.001.0001

Greek and Latin Medieval Syllabic Verse

Chapter:
(p. 88 ) 6 Greek and Latin Medieval Syllabic Verse
Source:
A History of European Versification
Author(s):

M. L. Gasparov

Publisher:
Oxford University Press
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198158790.003.0006

This chapter describes what happened in the phonological changes during the 3rd century ad in Greek and Latin languages, where opposition of long and short syllables was lost. This chapter talks about how Medieval Greek and Latin syllabic verses developed into classical Greek and Latin quantitative metrics. This development had very important consequences for the whole of medieval European versification. Changing from classical feet metrics to the less constrained medieval syllabic rhythms required compensation, called rhyme, to consolidate the unity of verse lines. The Middle Ages often indulged in sonorous rhyming schemes in metrical poetry until Renaissance came and poets returned to more rigorous imitation of classical models.

Keywords:   syllabic verse, medieval European versification, classical feet metrics, rhyme, Renaissance

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