An alexandrine is a line of poetic meter. Alexandrines are common in the German literature of the Baroque period and in French poetry of the early modern and modern periods and much less common in English poetry, which more frequently uses iambic pentameter or 5-foot verse. Jump to: navigation, search Meter (English spelling: metre) describes the linguistic sound patterns of verse. ... German literature comprises those literary texts originating within Germany proper and written in the German language. ... The Baroque period was one of the most fertile times in German literature. ... Poets who have written in the French language: Guillaume Apollinaire Charles-Pierre Baudelaire Octave Crémazie Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux Jean Chapelain René Char Chrétien de Troyes Paul Claudel Jean Cocteau Jean Daurat Évariste Desiré de Forges, vicomte de Parny Christine de Pisan Pontus de Tyard Paul Dirmeikis Joachim du... William Shakespeare is regarded as one of the greatest English poets ever. ... Jump to: navigation, search Iambic pentameter is a meter in poetry, consisting of lines with five feet (hence pentameter) in which the iamb is the dominant foot (hence Iambic). Iambic rhythms are quite easy to write in English and iambic pentameter is among the most common metrical forms in English...

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, or a short syllable followed by a long syllable, as in the word delay. Accentual verse has a fixed number of stresses per line or stanza regardless of the number of syllables that are present. ... An iamb is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. ... Hexameter is a literary and poetic form, consisting of six metrical feet per line as in the Iliad. ...

In syllabic verse, such as that used in French literature, an alexandrine is a line of twelve syllables, often with a caesura between the sixth and seventh syllables. The dramatic works of Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine are typically composed of rhyming alexandrine couplets. Syllabic verse is a poetic form having a fixed number of syllables per line or stanza regardless of the number of stresses that are present. ... French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak other traditional non-French languages. ... A cæsura, in prosody, is an audible pause that breaks up a long line of verse. ... Pierre Corneille (June 6, 1606–October 1, 1684) was a French tragedian who was one of the three great dramatists produced by France during the 17th century, along with Molière and Racine. ... Jean Racine (December 22, 1639 - April 21, 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the big three of 17th century France (along with Molière and Corneille). ...

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 Edmund Spenser (c. ... Jump to: navigation, search Una and the Lion by Briton Rivière The Faerie Queene is an epic poem by Edmund Spenser, first published in 1590 (the first half) with the more or less complete version being published in 1596. ...

Undoubtedly the most famous Alexandrine in the English language is a rhyming couplet of Alexander Pope's, in which the first line is in iambic pentameter and the second line is an alexandrine: A couplet is a pair of lines of verse that form a unit. ... Jump to: navigation, search Alexander Pope (May 22, 1688 – May 30, 1744) is considered one of the greatest English poets of the eighteenth century. ...

A needless alexandrine ends the song

that like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along.

A few lines later Pope continues discussing fast lines:

Not so, when swift Camilla scours the Plain,

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

The second line of the couplet, universally held as the fastest line in the English language, is remarkably an alexandrine itself, which Pope just claimed made the line excruciatingly slow. As Paul Fussell has said, "It is the literary equivalent of shouting, 'Look! No hands.'"

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. 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: The Spenserian stanza is a fixed verse form invented by Edmund Spenser for his epic The Faerie Queene. ... Jump to: navigation, search The English Restoration or simply Restoration was an episode in the history of Great Britain beginning in 1660 when the monarchy was restored under King Charles II after the English Civil War. ... John Dryden John Dryden (August 19, 1631 – May 12, 1700) was an influential English poet, literary critic, and playwright. ...

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.

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.

There is some doubt as to the origin of the name; but most probably it is derived from a collection of romances, collected in the 12th century, of which Alexander of Macedon was the hero, and in which he was represented, somewhat like the British Arthur, as the pride and crown of chivalry. Before the publication of this work most of the trouvere romances appeared in octosyllabic verse. There is also a theory that the form was invented by a poet named Alexander. 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 Baiif, one of the seven poets known as the Pleiades. Jump to: navigation, search Alexander the Great fighting the Persian king Darius (Pompeii mosaic, from a 3rd century BC original Greek painting, now lost). ... The title of Francis I can refer to: Francis I of Austria (1768-1835) Francis I, King of France 1515-47 Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (1745-1765) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain. Jump to: navigation, search Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-1911) represents the sum of human knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, it was advertised as such. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...