hemistich

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hem·i·stich

(hĕm′ĭ-stĭk′)

1. A half line of verse, especially when separated rhythmically from the rest of the line by a caesura.

2. An incomplete or imperfect line of verse.

[Latin hēmistichium, from Greek hēmistikhion : hēmi-, hemi- + stikhos, line; see steigh- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

hemistich

(ˈhɛmɪˌstɪk)

(Poetry) prosody a half line of verse

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

hem•i•stich

(ˈhɛm ɪˌstɪk)

n.

1. half of a line of verse, esp. as divided by a caesura.

2. an incomplete line of verse, or a line of less than the usual length.

[1565–75; < Late Latin hēmistichium < Greek hēmistíchion. See hemi-, stich]

he•mis•ti•chal (həˈmɪs tɪ kəl, ˈhɛm ɪˌstɪk əl) adj.

Translations

ημιστίχιο

hemistich

[ˈhemɪstɪk] N → hemistiquio m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

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References in periodicals archive ?

Maybe they will find a situation like what is conveyed in the popular Urdu hemistich 'wohi qatl bhi karey hai, wohi lay sawab ulta' (strange that the one who kills is coming forward to claim the reward).

Veiled and institutional wrongs

This then, it seems, is what generated al-Ma'arri's jarring juxtaposition of the Islamic pilgrims or "Quraysh" (in the Luzum ma la yalzam editions, see below) and Mecca in the first hemistich with the extinct semi-legendary Arab tribes of Jadls and Tasm in the second.

Irony, Archeology, and the Rule of Rhyme: Two Readings of the Tasmu Luzumiyya of Abu l-'Ala' al-Ma'arri

This is the incomplete first hemistich of Psalms 17:3 according to the Vulgate, but the sense of the Hebrew original is not identical: "Thou examinedst by fire" is just one word in Hebrew (three in Latin), and two Hebrew words follow, which mean: "Thou foundest not [anything wrong]".

India and the Virtuous Indian in Dante

In Elizabethan times, the most frequent break fell after syllable 4, emphasizing the hemistich segmentation 4 + 6 syllables.

The Boundaries of John Marston's Dramatic Canon

That there is something unsatisfactory about outsourcing one's self-interpretation in this way is suggested by the urge to repeat the last hemistich just three lines later, where he who reads her through may be "content" but she, aspirationally the content or object of his imputed thought, is not content, not quite.

Fretted lines: di-versification in Augusta Webster's dramatic monologues

("She holds you fast for ever.") This is a near translation of the final hemistich of Goethe's Roman Elegies, no.

Peter blum and Italy: 'Italy fascinated us'/Peter blum and Italy: 'Italie het ons aangegryp'

When there are four or more dipods, a higher level of division within the line is recognised, the hemistich, literally 'half line'.

Alyawarr women's song-poetry of Central Australia

(3) Because of the different contexts in which "arrancar" can be used, the first hemistich sets up a question: Could the poem be an expression of gratitude to a merciful God for having relieved the poet of something painful or unpleasant?

Antonio Machado's De profundis

He looks at her "ka shurfati bay tin," and "bayt" in Arabic means both "house" and "hemistich"--a note which would have enhanced Rahman's idea of creation and compensation, had it been slightly freer from autobiography, for she would have certainly found interest in other lines of the poem and examined other ways of compensation through poetry at a more individual level as suggested by the poem (the creation of a woman, friends, poetic ancestors).

"Like a Balcony": the philosophical text within the poetic metaphor

Because during the four-bit is five times the word "shams." Now if Shams to order over the next hemistich, only has devoted four word "shams" and Shams fifth is that Shams religion, Out of the hide Rumi and the case, is curtain in the Balance love crying.