Syllabo-tonic versification

Syllabo-tonic versification is a system in which rhythm is built on the ordered alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables, taking into account both the number of syllables and the placement of stress. This system is the principal one for modern Ukrainian poetry; its foundations were laid by Ivan Kotliarevsky's Eneida, and it was developed by Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko, Lesya Ukrainka and the Neoclassicists. Its unit of measurement is the foot, and the measure is defined by the type of foot and the number of its repetitions (iambic tetrameter, amphibrachic trimeter and so on). Syllabo-tonics combined the syllable-counting principle of syllabics with the accentual organisation of tonics, yielding a flexible yet precise rhythmic structure suitable for lyric, epic and dramatic verse.