Elegiac Couplets Defined

The elegiac couplet consists of alternating lines of dactylic hexameter

and pentameter. (See the description of the dactylic hexameter line

above.) The pentameter line gets its name (“pent” is Greek for fi ve) from

the fact that it consists of two times 2 ½ feet of hexameter. There is a

pause or diaeresis in between. The fi rst half of the pentameter consists

of two and a half feet of hexameter with the substitutions of dactyls and

spondees allowed in the hexameter line.

The second half of the pentameter does not allow substitution and consists

of two dactylic feet and a half foot. The “half” feet in the pentameter

are always one long syllable.

hexameter:

UU UU UU UU UU

— — / — — / — — / — — / — — / — X

pentameter:

—UU—UU

— — — — — // — UU — UU X

Poem 76, lines 1–2

Sī qua recordantī benefacta priōra voluptās

— U U/— — /— U U/— U U/—U U/— X

est hominī, cum sē cōgitat esse pium,

— U U/— — / — //—UU / —U U/ X

Catullus Poems in Elegiac Couplets