01-24-2012, 11:03 PM
Quote:In accentual verse, only the stressed syllables are counted. Heptameter means it has seven feet, therefore each line has seven stressed syllables. To use heptameter is a bit of a misnomer as it implies seven metered feet, and accentual verse is not metered, so it may have been more appropriate to say seven foot accentual verse, but that seemed unduly awkward. It is similar to the term blank verse, which generally means non-rhymed iambic pentameter, but it could apply as well to any verse form that is not rhymed as long as the foot lenght is noted to distinguish it from pentameter, such as "blank verse tetrameter".
I simply put "accentual heptameter" so people would not waste their time trying to figure what sort of strange meter this was. Obviously I should reconsider in the future, as it seemed to cause more confusion than clarity.
As always, thanks for your thoughts and suggestions Billy,
no that makes perfect sense. and it's an enlightenment for me. (thanks) i know my next questions is going to sound moronic; can there be such a thing as unaccented pentameter etc?