Alcaic stanza four lines; the first two lines are divided into two parts by a caesura after the fifth syllable. The metrical pattern of an Alcaic stanza would look like this: Horace frequently used the Alcaic stanza in his Odes, as can be seen from this example : An English translation, which suggests the metre, is : A famous example of English Alcaics is Tennyson's "Milton": <poem style="margin-left:2em"> O mighty-mouth'd inventor of harmonies, O skill'd to sing of Time or Eternity, </poem> The Alcaic stanza was adapted to use in English and French during the Renaissance. It was very frequently used in
Sapphic stanza in Polish poetry scheme freely, as in the poem "Buntowniki" ("Rioters"). The second half of the 19th century in Polish literature was dominated by "pozytywizm" (positivism), which was the local Polish version of West-European realism. The two greatest poets of the time were Adam Asnyk and Maria Konopnicka. Their poetry was much influenced by French Parnassianism. Maria Konopnicka published more than twenty poems written in the form. She also used its scheme for constructing more complicated stanzas. Felicjan Faleński attempted a Polish Sapphic stanza more closely resembling the Greek and Latin models, and in translating Horace’s poetry used a hendecasyllable with the caesura