A line of poetry or verse containing exactly eleven syllables.
From Greek 'hendeca-' (eleven) plus 'syllable' (from Latin 'syllaba'). The word describes both the metrical unit and was a dominant form in Romance poetry.
The hendecasyllable is the heartbeat of Italian poetry—Dante's entire Divine Comedy flows in these 11-syllable lines, yet most English readers never notice because English translation flattens the meter.
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