Arsis

Selected terms relating to the dactylic hexameter.

Arsis is a term in epic poetry relating to the dactylic hexameter. In Greek, arsis means lifting up, and the arsis is the second half of a dactylic foot or metron in which the foot is imagined as lifting up for the next thesis. Dactylic hexameter was the most common meter in the poetry of ancient Greece and Rome and was used in the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer and in the Aeneid by the Roman poet Virgil. See diagram. elating to the dactylic hexameter.]]

Further information

• See hexametrica Glossary of terms relating to dactylic hexameter