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{{Short description|Metric foot in Greek poetry}}
{{other uses|Pyrrhic (disambiguation)}}
{{Metrical feet}}

A '''pyrrhic''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɪr|ɪ|k}}; {{langx|el|πυρρίχιος}} ''pyrrichios'', from πυρρίχη ''pyrrichē'') is a [[metrical foot]] used in formal [[poetry]]. It consists of two unaccented, [[Syllable weight|short syllable]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/Handbook/pyrrhic.html |title=A Handbook of Terms for Discussing Poetry |last=Rusche |first=Harry |publisher=[[Emory University]] Department of English |access-date=20 December 2006 |df=dmy}}</ref> It is also known as a '''dibrach'''.

==In classical Greek poetry==

Although the pyrrhic by itself is not used in analysis of classical Greek prosody, examples exist of [[epigram]]matic poems that employ nothing but short syllables (except at line ends where a syllable always scans long), creating a pyrrhic-like effect, such as an epigram addressed to the [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynic]] philosopher [[Diogenes]] and recorded in the [[Suda]]:

<blockquote>
{{lang|grc|Διόγενες, ἄγε, λέγε, τίς ἔλαβέ σε μόρος ἐς Ἄϊδος; ἔλαβέ με κυνὸς ὀδάξ}}.<ref>{{Suda|Diogenes}}</ref>

{{grc-transl|Διόγενες, ἄγε, λέγε, τίς ἔλαβέ σε μόρος ἐς Ἄϊδος; ἔλαβέ με κυνὸς ὀδάξ}}.
</blockquote>

==Poetic use in English==

[[Alfred Tennyson|Tennyson]] used pyrrhics and [[spondee]]s quite frequently, for example, in ''[[In Memoriam A.H.H.|In Memoriam]]'':

<blockquote><u>When the</u> blood creeps <u>and the</u> nerves prick.</blockquote>

"When the" and "and the" in the second line may be considered as pyrrhics (also analyzable as [[ionic meter]]).

Pyrrhics alone are not used to construct an entire poem in English due to the monotonous effect.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://server.riverdale.k12.or.us/~bblack/meter.html |title=Rhythm, Meter, and Scansion Made Easy |publisher=Riverdale School |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231141041/http://server.riverdale.k12.or.us/~bblack/meter.html |archive-date=2006-12-31 |url-status=dead |access-date=2006-12-20 |df=dmy}} Last accessed 20 December 2006</ref>  [[Edgar Allan Poe]] observed that many experts rejected it from English metrics and concurred:<blockquote>The pyrrhic is rightfully dismissed. Its existence in either ancient or modern rhythm is purely chimerical, and the insisting on so perplexing a nonentity as a foot of two short syllables, affords, perhaps, the best evidence of the gross irrationality and subservience to authority which characterise our Prosody.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Tales, Sketches and Selected Criticism |last=Poe |first=Edgar Allen |chapter=The Rationale of Verse |chapter-url=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/POE/rationale.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030054231/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/POE/rationale.html |archive-date=2013-10-30 |df=dmy}}</ref></blockquote>

==War dance==

By extension, this rhythmic pattern apparently formed the basis of an [[Pyrrhichios|identically named ancient Greek war dance]]. [[Proclus]] thought it was the same as the ''hyporcheme'' (''hyporchēma''), while [[Athenaeus]] distinguished them; this may have depended on whether song accompanied the dance. Citing [[Aristoxenus]], Athenaeus said the pyrrhic is a [[Sparta]]n dance for boys carrying spears to prepare for war, and noted the intense speed of the dance. In [[Plato]]'s ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]'', the dance is described as representing the offensive and defensive movements in battle. Other Greeks associated it with [[Dionysus]].<ref>{{Cite Grove |last=Mathiesen |first=Thomas J. |title=Pyrrhic}}</ref> There are a number of Classical and later reliefs that depict pyrrhic dancers,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Agelidis|first=Soi|title=Choregische Weihgeschenke in Griechenland|date=2009|publisher=Bernstein-Verlag|isbn=978-3-939431-07-7|edition=1. Aufl|location=Bonn|oclc=319495906}}</ref> even if the motif was not widely used during the Roman era.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2012-12-02|title=Dancing with decorum|url=http://ecsi.se/opathrom-05-02/|access-date=2021-04-29|website=Editorial Committee of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome|language=en-GB|doi=10.30549/opathrom-05-02|s2cid=186429683 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Metrical feet]]


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