In English, a 12-syllable iambic line adapted from French heroic verse. The last line of each stanza in Thomas Hardy’s “The Convergence of the Twain” and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “To a Skylark” is an al [..]

in reference to a type of verse line, 1580s (adj.); 1660s (n.), said to be from Old French Roman d'Alexandre, name of a poem about Alexander the Great that was popular in the Middle Ages, which u [..]

A twelve-syllable line written in iambic hexameter. Alexandrines were especially popular in French poetry for drama between 1500-1800 CE, but their invention dates back to the late 1100s. The earliest [..]

An Alexandrine is a verse of iambic hexameter — i.e., a verse of six feet, each of which has the stress on the second beat. Although twelve-syllable verses are very common in French poetry, [..]

a line of verse in iambic hexameter, often with a caesura after the third iambic foot.

a line of six iambic feet, often used to mark a conclusion in a work which is in heroic couplets: Alexander Pope in his Essay on Criticism (1709) satirised this technique (which he was not above using [..]

A line of iambic hexameter (i.e. twelve syllables divided into six feet of iambic stress pattern). The Alexandrine being a long line, it is often divided in the middle by a pause or caesura into two symmetrical halves called hemistiches. Pope’s Essay on Criticism offers this exemplary comment on the Alexandrine: “A needless Alexan [..]

A verse line consisting of 12 syllables. Common in French dramatic and narrative poetry since the 16th century.

Originally a twelve syllable meter in French prosody. However, the English equivalent is the iambic hexameter - see meter. An example of alexandrine verse is Testament of Beauty by Robert B [..]

Belonging to Alexandria; Alexandrian. ----

Named after the ever-so-heroic Alexander the Great, an alexandrine is a line of verse made up of six iambs. If you want to get all fancy about it, you can even say that an alexandrine is a line of poe [..]

French diminutive of Alexandra. This was the name of a Danish queen, the wife of King Christian X.