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Metrical foot

Bacchius

All data from the card 12
◡ ◡
pyrrhic, dibrach
◡ –
iamb
– ◡
trochee, choree
– –
spondee
◡ ◡ ◡
tribrach
– ◡ ◡
dactyl
◡ – ◡
amphibrach
◡ ◡ –
anapaest, antidactyl
◡ – –
bacchius
– ◡ –
cretic, amphimacer
– – ◡
antibacchius
– – –
molossus

A bacchius () or bacchy is a metrical foot of three syllables, consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by two stressed ones.

In accentual-syllabic verse we could describe a bacchius as a foot that goes like this:

daDUMDUM

Example:

When day breaks

the fish bite

at small flies.

The Christmas carol 'No Small Wonder' by Paul Edwards is a fair example of usage.

The name is thought to come from its use in ancient Greek songs to the god Bacchus.

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Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source article