Jon's definition is obviously the more poetic one, but drudges like me would
say that a dipodic foot is a run of syllables in a line of verse that makes
more sense to scan as a unit that as a regular foot. It is two regular feet
jammed together & having some metrical identity of its own. In this ditty
the last four syllables of the fourth line are best scanned as a dipodic
foot rather than a pair of iambs or a pyrrhic and a spondee. The variation
stands out because the rest of the lines are so monosyllabically regular &
iambic
When I get home from work at night
I take a drink & light the light.
And then I take a drink again
And slip into oblivion.
jd
On 1/22/07, Jon Corelis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Dipodic is from "di-", the prefix signifying "two," and the root "pod,"
> i.e.
> "the long, two-valved case enclosing the seeds of the pea plant." It
> signifies things which are alike as two peas in a pod. Thus the "Dipodic
> school" of poetry is one whose members write poems all of which are
> identical.
>
--
Joseph Duemer
Professor of Humanities
Clarkson University
[sharpsand.net]
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