Double Dactyl
Quick answer: A double dactyl is a strict eight-line comic form with dactylic rhythm, a nonsense opening, and a one-word six-syllable line. Learn its rules and how to write one.
A double dactyl is a strict comic verse form of two four-line stanzas, in which most lines consist of two dactyls (DUM-da-da DUM-da-da), the first line is ritual nonsense such as 'Higgledy piggledy', the second line is a proper name, and one later line must be a single six-syllable word. The fourth and eighth lines are shorter, and only they rhyme with each other.
The form was invented in 1951 by the poet Anthony Hecht and the classicist Paul Pascal, and codified in the 1966 anthology Jiggery Pokery, which Hecht edited with John Hollander. It is the most rule-bound of all the comic forms, a limerick with a doctorate, and much of the pleasure lies in watching a writer meet every requirement while still landing a joke.
How It Works
The full contract: eight lines in two quatrains. Lines one to three and five to seven are each two dactyls; lines four and eight are a dactyl plus one stressed syllable, and they rhyme. Line one is nonsense ('Higgledy piggledy', 'Jiggery pokery'). Line two is the subject's name, which must itself be a double dactyl, hence the form's love of names like 'Emily Dickinson'. Somewhere in the second stanza, one line must be a single six-syllable word, 'incomprehensibly', 'valedictorian'.
An original example: 'Higgledy piggledy, / Emily Dickinson / kept her best verses shut / tight in a drawer. // Editors, finding them, / posthumobsessively / tidied her dashes up. / She kept the score.' Note the invented six-syllable word, a permitted flourish in the form's playful spirit.
Where You Will See It
Jiggery Pokery (1966) remains the source text, with contributions from Hecht, Hollander, and friends, plus the rules stated with mock solemnity, including an original stipulation, now rarely enforced, that each six-syllable word should never be used in the form twice. The double dactyl circulates where clever people show off harmlessly: literary magazines' back pages, classics departments, competition columns, and online light-verse communities. It shares that ecosystem with the limerick and the clerihew but outranks both for sheer technical difficulty.
How to Use It in Your Own Poems
Start by collecting ammunition: double-dactylic names (Benedict Cumberbatch, Oedipus Tyrannus) and six-syllable words (heterogeneously, parliamentarian). The poem assembles itself around those two fixed pieces far more easily than around an idea. Then draft the final line, since the fourth-and-eighth-line rhyme is the only rhyme you owe.
Say the dactyls aloud as you write; the DUM-da-da must be effortless, and any syllable you have to squash is a syllable to replace. Writing one perfect double dactyl teaches more about stress placement than a month of exercises, which is the secret reason teachers assign it.
What poets can take from this
- Collect double-dactylic names before you start writing.
- Keep a private list of six-syllable words for line six or seven.
- Write the rhyming short lines (four and eight) early.
- Speak every line aloud; the dactyls must fall without forcing.
- Keep the subject matter gossipy; the form is built for mock biography.
Try it yourself
Write a double dactyl about a historical figure whose name scans as two dactyls. Meet every rule, nonsense opener, name line, one six-syllable word, rhymed short lines, and make the last line a verdict on their career.
Questions
What are the exact rules of a double dactyl?
Two quatrains; lines one to three and five to seven are two dactyls each; lines four and eight are a dactyl plus a stress and rhyme together; line one is nonsense; line two is a double-dactylic proper name; and one line, usually in stanza two, is a single six-syllable word.
Who invented the double dactyl?
Anthony Hecht and Paul Pascal in 1951. Hecht and John Hollander then anthologised and codified it in Jiggery Pokery (1966), which is still the form's rulebook.
What counts as a valid six-syllable word?
A single word of six syllables, ideally dactylic in movement, like 'incomprehensibly'. Purists insist it fill the whole line by itself; the original rules also joked that no such word should ever be reused in another double dactyl.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
Enter a Writory poetry contest
Enter the September contest and have your own poem read and scored. That first entry makes you a Writorian.