Double dactyl

A dactyl is a term used in formal English poetry to describe a trisyllablic metrical foot made up of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones. Matador, realize, cereal and limerick are examples of words that are themselves dactyls. A double dactyl can therefore simply mean two consecutive dactyls.

A double dactyl is also a verse form, also known as "higgledy piggledy," purportedly^{[according to whom?]} invented by Anthony Hecht and Paul Pascal in 1961, but having a history as a parlor word game earlier in the century. Like a limerick, it has a rigid structure and is usually humorous, but the double dactyl is considerably more rigid and difficult to write. There must be two stanzas, each comprising three lines of dactylic dimeter followed by a line with a dactyl and a single accent. The two stanzas have to rhyme on their last line. The first line of the first stanza is repetitive nonsense. The second line of the first stanza is the subject of the poem, a proper noun. Note that this name must itself be double-dactylic. There is also a requirement for at least one line of the second stanza to be entirely one double dactyl word, for example "va-le-dic-tor-i-an". Some purists still follow Hecht and Pascal's original rule that no single six-syllable word, once used in a double dactyl, should ever be knowingly used again.^[1]

An example by John Hollander:^[2]

Higgledy piggledy,

Benjamin Harrison,

Twenty-third president

Was, and, as such,

Served between Clevelands and

Save for this trivial

Idiosyncrasy,

Didn't do much.

An example by E. Jaksch:^[3]

Inheritance

Higgledy-Piggledy

Gay Caius Julius.

Tribune sojourning a

Long way from home,

Seeking distraction in

Nicomedophily,

Earned with his service a

Province for Rome.

A double dactyl by Paul Pascal on the subject of Antony and Cleopatra:

Tact

"Patty cake, patty cake,

Marcus Antonius,

What do you think of the

African queen?"

"Gubernatorial

Duties require my

Presence in Egypt. Ya

Know what I mean?"

An example about Joe DiMaggio by Washington Post writer Gene Weingarten:

Higgledy Piggledy

Joseph DiMaggio,

Jolted the ball but was

Jilted in bed.

Marilyn walked, but he

Necro-romantically

Laid her in rose bouquets

When she was dead.

In literature, Neil Gaiman's Stardust (novel) contains a double dactyl:

Hankety pankety

Boy in a blanket, he’s

Off on a goose-chase to

Look for a star

Incontrovertibly

Journeys through Fäerie

Strip off the blanket to

See who you are.

John Bellairs' classic fantasy novel The Face In The Frost contains several double dactyls, used as nonsense magic spells, such as the following:

Higgledy-Piggledy

St. Athanasius

Rifled through volumes in

Unseemly haste

Trying to find out if,

Hagiographically,

John of Jerusalem

Liked almond paste.

A similar verse form called a McWhirtle was invented in 1989 by American poet Bruce Newling.

A related form is the double amphibrach, similar to the McWhirtle but with stricter rules more closely resembling the double dactyl.

References

External links

• Additional examples, links, and information.^{[dead link]} Archive copy at the Internet Archive
• Additional examples.^{[dead link]}