hexameter: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples

Primarily, yes. While technically any six-foot line is a hexameter, the term is overwhelmingly associated with the dactylic hexameter of classical Greek and Latin epic poetry (Homer, Virgil). Its use for modern poetry is very rare and usually a conscious classical allusion.

It's a difference in the number of metrical 'feet'. Hexameter has six feet per line, pentameter has five. Pentameter (especially iambic pentameter) is common in English poetry (e.g., Shakespeare). Hexameter is the defining metre of ancient epic.

Creating a true dactylic hexameter in English is difficult due to the language's stress-based nature. A famous attempt is Longfellow's 'Evangeline': 'This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks...' The line attempts to mimic the long-short-short pattern of the dactyl.

The word derives from Greek 'hexámetros', where the stress falls on the second syllable ('a'). English often preserves the stress pattern of the original classical language in technical and academic terms like this one.

A line of verse consisting of six metrical feet.

Hexameter is usually formal/literary/academic in register.

Hexameter: in British English it is pronounced /hɛkˈsæm.ɪ.tə/, and in American English it is pronounced /hɛkˈsæm.ə.t̬ɚ/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.