Choriamb

In Greek and Latin poetry, a choriamb /ˈkɔːriˌæmb/ is a metron (prosodic foot) consisting of four syllables in the pattern long-short-short-long (— ^{‿ ‿} —), that is, a trochee alternating with an iamb. Choriambs are one of the two basic metra^[1] that do not occur in spoken verse, as distinguished from true lyric or sung verse.^[2] The choriamb is sometimes regarded as the "nucleus" of Aeolic verse, because the pattern long-short-short-long pattern occurs, but to label this a "choriamb" is potentially misleading.^[3]

In the prosody of English and other modern European languages, "choriamb" is sometimes used to describe four-syllable sequence of the pattern stressed-unstressed-unstressed-stressed (again, a trochee followed by an iamb): for example, "over the hill", "under the bridge", and "what a mistake!".

English prosody

In English, the choriamb is often found in the first four syllables of iambic pentameter verses, as here in Keats' To Autumn:

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,

Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or by a cider-press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

See also

• meter (poetry)
• Aeolic verse

References