Decasyllable

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Decasyllable is a ten-syllable line used in several languages’ poetry. In languages with a strong stress pattern, it works like a ten-beat line similar to iambic pentameter.

In medieval France, ten-syllable lines were common in heroic Epics called chansons de geste, usually with a natural pause after the fourth syllable. French romances tended to be eight syllables, and by the 16th century the twelve-syllable alexandrine became more popular, pushing decasyllables aside.

Paul Valéry’s poem Le Cimetière marin is written in decasyllables.

South Slavic and particularly Serbian epic poetry, sung with the gusle, also uses decasyllabic verse.

In 19th-century Italian opera, decasyllables were often used in libretti. Verdi’s works show this rhythm, and at times he asked for different patterns (even suggesting eight-syllable lines to vary a chorus) while many passages still used the ten-syllable meter.

Geoffrey Chaucer used decasyllables in The Canterbury Tales and helped turn the line into the iambic pentameter rhythm later famous in English poetry. Because Middle English often kept more unstressed endings, Chaucer’s poetry contains more eleven-syllable lines (hendecasyllables) than later English poetry.