West, Greek Metre (Oxford 1982) see also my chapter ‘Metre’ in The Edinburgh Companion to Greece and Rome. My own fuller ideas about metre will be published in my forthcoming book on Greek music and poetry they have nothing to do with wise kangaroos, pictured above left, who are evidently debating the merits of leather shoes and boots (Doc Martins - or should that be Doc Miacs?). I have added some annotations for those who want to know more about the origins or implications of the mnemonics. The systems are authoritatively explained in M.L. A stress ( thesis, footfall) may be indicated by a dot placed over the symbol, e.g. I use the standard symbols ∪ for a short position, − for a long one, and × for either long or short ( anceps ). Glyconics/Pherecrateans, or Dodrans/Ibycean, they are listed together. Where one colon is a catalectic (shortened) or expanded version of another, e.g. Metres are given more or less alphabetically in each section, together with analysis of quantities and standard abbreviations. There are two sections: A) Aeolic cola and stanzas, and B) Other metres.
Some nonsense seems inevitable, and can be positively useful for memorising if it seems amusing or puzzling. I have generally added rhyme into the mnemonics to help recall.
I devised these mnemonics for my teaching of Greek metre and its Latin counterparts to students at Oxford since 1998.ġ) that the mnemonics should represent the Greek quantities (long or short durations) accurately in rhythmical form, using the natural stresses of English to coincide with long and short syllables,Ģ) that the names or eponyms of the metre and cola (patterns of long and short syllables) should if possible be incorporated, directly or as puns, into the mnemonics.