Prosody (Latin) long or short in some schemes to indicate natural syllable length but it is always long by position. A dactylic tetrameter catalectic is sometimes joined to the dactylic hexameter to form a couplet termed the Alcmanian Strophe, named after the lyric poet Alcman (some scholars however refer to the Alcmanian Strophe as the First Archilochian, as indeed there is a strong likeness between the two forms). Examples of the form are found in Horace's Odes ("carmina") and "Epodes", as here in his Epode 12. Note that the plosive + liquid combination pr in 'capreaeque', syllabified "ca.pre.ae.que", leaves the first open
Thomas Watson (poet) Thomas Watson (poet) Thomas Watson (1555–1592) was an English poet and translator, and the pioneer of the English madrigal. His lyrics aside, he wrote largely in Latin, being the first to translate Sophocles' "Antigone" from the Greek. His incorporation of Italianate forms into English lyric verse influenced a generation of English writers, including Shakespeare, who was referred to in 1595 by William Covell as "Watson's heyre" [heir]. He wrote both English and Latin compositions, and was particularly admired for the ones in Latin. His unusual 18-line sonnets were influential, although the form was not generally imitated. Thomas Watson was born