Quantitative Metres Quantity | metre | word meter

 Quantitative Metres Quantity :-

Quantitative Metres Quantity in the present context refers to the time we take to pronounce a syllable. It is a product of the duration for which we pronounce the vowel at the nucleus of the syllable. For instance you can pronounce "sweet rose" in various ways shortening and lengthening the vowel sound as you please. This variability, however, would hinder communication between the poet and you as the reader. Now if you compare Sanskrit, or Hindi for the matter, with English you find that you cannot exercise your discretion in lengthening or shortening the vowel sound or the quantity of the syllable in the two Indian languages. 

They are predetermined by the linguistic system of Sanskrit and Hindi. The quantitative metres dominated Greek and Latin poetry because they are highly inflected. (To inflect a word is to change its form at the end according to its peculiar, case, mood, tense and number. For instance we can say that “child" and "boy" inflect differently in the plural.) The inflection promoted the construction of long, slow - paced lines because those languages supported the alternation of the long vowels in the roots and the short ones in the infleetions. English which lost most of its inflections in the 15 century, unlike German, is less hospitable to the quantitative metres.