The Sapphic stanza, named after Sappho, is a poetic form spanning four lines.
The form is three hendecasyllabic lines of trochee, trochee, dactyl, trochee, trochee and a concluding line of dactyl, trochee, known as the Adonic or adonean line.
Using "-" for a long syllable, "u" for a short and "x" for an "anceps" (or free syllable):
- u - x - u u - u - x
- u - x - u u - u - x
- u - x - u u - u - x
- u u - x
While Sappho used several metrical forms for her poetry, she is most famous for the Sapphic stanza. It is not clear if she created it or if it was already part of the Aeolic tradition.
A few centuries later, the Roman poet Catullus admired Sappho's work and used the Sapphic meter in two poems, Catullus 11 and Catullus 51. The latter is a rough translation of Sappho's poem 31. Sapphics were also used by Horace in several of his Odes.
