catalexis

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Related to catalexes: end stop, Acatalexis

cat·a·lex·is

(kăt′l-ĕk′sĭs)

n. pl. cat·a·lex·es (-sēz′)

The absence of one or more syllables in a line of verse, especially in the last foot.

[Greek katalēxis, from katalēgein, to leave off; see catalectic.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

catalexis

(ˌkætəˈlɛksɪs)

the state of lacking a syllable in the last foot of a line of poetry

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

catalexis

incompleteness of a foot, wherever it appears in a verse. — catalectic, adj.

See also: Verse

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Noun 1. catalexis - the absence of a syllable in the last foot of a line or verse

cadence, metre, meter, measure, beat - (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse

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References in periodicals archive ?

Both poets sought a pentameter that would sound more natural, less orotund and Tennysonian, and in doing so they reintroduced into the line (deliberately or otherwise) a feature that had hitherto (as the following table shows) characterized only the specifically oral medium of Shakespeare's dramatic verse: catalexis, or the omission of nonbeatbearing syllables in the line: Comparative Table of Catalexes and Harsh Mappings (1000-line samples) Lines with Initial Internal Total Harsh Catalexes Catalexis Catalexis Mappings Pope 0 0 0 0 Milton (PL) 0 0 0 0.2 Shakespeare (Sonn) 0 0 0 1.3 Shakespeare (Tp.) 0.9 1.0 1.9 01.4 Byron (Don Juan) 0 0 0 0.2 Tennyson 0 0 0 0.2 Browning (R&B) 0.1 0 0.1 3.2 Betjeman (b.

Thus Shakespeare's editors, from the anonymous redactor(s) of F2 onwards, have expended much ink and ingenuity in attempting to redeem the National Poet from the charge of incorrectness by repairing the catalexes in his dramatic verse.

Though single catalexes generally go unremarked, multiple catalexis will sometimes obtrude itself upon a critic's attention, in which case it will tend to be interpreted prescriptively as a departure from metricality.