Aeolic Meters and the Lesser Asclepiadean, Scansion 524-7

Greek meter (and Latin meter in imitation of Greek forms) includes one group of meters called Aeolic because many of these types of meters were used by poets who spoke the Aeolic Greek dialect, primarily Sappho and Alcaeus.

Meters that are composed chiefly of choriambs (long short short long), cretics (long short long), and other iambic forms (iamb u-, spondee --, bacchiac u--) are usually called Aeolic meters.

The glyconic and pherecratean are two of the most common aeolic meters.

The glyconic is xx | -uu- | u -. The pherecratean is a catalectic version of a glyconic (xx | -uu- | -). Catalectic means that part (usually one syllable) is missing. Often catalectic versions of meters will be used to end a stanza in stanzaic verse. Thus Catullus uses a stanza of 3 glyconics + 1 pherecratean in poem 34.

Another glyconic meter is Catullus' favorite the hendecasyllabic (or 11-syllable: xx | -uu- | u- | u--) verse as in poem 1. It scans with two ancipites or unknown syllables (in Catullus the first is long); then it has a choriamb, an iamb, and a bacchiac.



We are learning the Aeolic Meter called the Lesser Asclepiadean which Seneca uses in the chorus starting at 524.
It scans -- | -uu- | -uu- | u- which is spondee, choriamb, choriamb, iamb.
There is always (at least here in Seneca) a word break or caesura between the two choriambs in the middle of the line.

Note that this meter always scans the same line after line, so once you mark all the elisions it should be VERY EASY.