hexameter
Other forms: hexameters
If the poem you're reading has lines with six metrical feet each, it's written in hexameter — and it's very likely to be a Latin or Greek classic like The Iliad since hexameter was most commonly used in classical epic poetry.
Poems using only hexameter lines are unusual, though not unheard of, in English poetry; more often, hexameter lines are included in verse that is mainly written in pentameter. It's challenging to fit English into a classical version of hexameter, which follows specific rules about exactly what kinds of metric feet must be used and in what order. This form was much better suited to Greek and Latin. The word hexameter comes from the Greek hexametros and its roots, hex, "six," and metron, "poetic meter."
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Vocabulary lists containing hexameter
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