TANgled UP in BLUE
 

In the title and refrain of Dylan's "Tangled Up in Blue,"
the stresses seem absolutely clear:

TANgled UP in BLUE

but what would you call this pattern?
If one goes to iambic by default,
you could say its an anacrusis of iambic trimeter,
or a catalexis of trochaic trimeter.

But I'm looking for something closer to an amphimacer (XxX)
but for a five syllable line (XxXxX)? Is there such a term?

Well an amphimacer is a foot, whereas this line can't be treated as one foot, so I wouldn't expect there to be anything comparable. It's just trimeter, iambic or trochaic depending on context. I'm not sure the rest of the lyrics of the song establish a clear context, so it's a matter of indifference.

But maybe I, too, will be enlightened.

For starters, there is a five-syllable foot called the dochmius that occurred in Greek drama, but as the link states, it "typically" has a pattern uMMuM.

It's just a headless (acephalic) iambic trimeter.

Oh Tim, how dare you simplify things? The next thing I know, you'll be telling us that you have to look at a line in context of what surrounds it, and not turn handstands trying to parse a single line. (Which I guess is what Aaron said. And i thought I had also, but I realized now that I never sent my earlier snidefest.)

Please show extreme caution, Mr. Savoie. Bob Dylan sued the group Hootie & the Blowfish, simply for repeating that phrase:

http://tasteofcountry.com/remember-w...darius-rucker/

Jennifer

Pretty much! And thank you for the link, which reviews the story pretty thoroughly. I'll just add to the article that the Hootie & the Blowfish hit also borrows Dylan's melody, but then Dylan has not been averse to borrowing melodies over the years, often folk ones.

Cheers,
John

John, thank you. And -- as we now know from his Nobel address -- to "borrowing" from literature, as well! :o

Jennifer