Editing Dactylic hexameter (section)

===In English===
Many poets have attempted to write dactylic hexameters in English, though few works composed in the meter have stood the test of time. Most such works are accentual rather than quantitative. Perhaps the most famous is [[Longfellow]]'s "[[Evangeline]]", whose first lines are as follows:

:"This is the / forest pri/meval. The / murmuring / pines and the / hemlocks
:Bearded with / moss, and in / garments / green, indis/tinct in the / twilight,
:Stand like / Druids of / eld, with / voices / sad and pro/phetic..."

Contemporary poet [[Annie Finch]] wrote her epic libretto ''Among the Goddesses'' in dactylic tetrameter, which she claims is the most accurate English accentual equivalent of dactylic hexameter.<ref>"Preface," ''Among the Goddesses: An Epic Libretto in Seven Dreams'' (Red Hen Press, 2010), p. iii-iv.''</ref> Poets who have written quantitative hexameters in English include [[Robert Bridges]] and Rodney Merrill, whose translation of part of the ''[[Iliad]]'' begins as follows (see External links below):

:"Sing now, / goddess, the / wrath of A/chilles the / scion of / Peleus,
:Ruinous / rage, which / brought the A/chaeans un/counted af/flictions;
:Many the / powerful / souls it / sent to the / dwelling of / Hades..."

Although the rules seem simple, it is hard to use classical hexameter in English because English is a [[Isochrony#Stress timing|stress-timed]] language that condenses vowels and consonants between stressed syllables, while hexameter relies on the regular timing of the phonetic sounds. Languages having the latter properties (i.e., languages that are not stress-timed) include Ancient Greek, Latin, Lithuanian and Hungarian.