Sapphics designates a form much used by Horace ( see Horatian ode) and named for Sappho. In Latin, it was quantitative, using long ( _ ) and short ( u ) syllables, and some that can be either long or short ( x ). In some English sapphics, as in that below by Watts, stresses replace longs syllables. Other poets have tried to reproduce Latin quantities in English. The pattern is as follows:

_ u _ x _ u u _ _ u _

_ u _ x _ u u _ _ u _

_ u _ x _ u u _ u _ x

_ u u _ _
 

The Day of Judgement

          WHEN the fierce North-wind with his airy forces
          Rears up the Baltic to a foaming fury;
          And the red lightning with a storm of hail comes
               Rushing amain down;

          How the poor sailors stand amazed and tremble,
          While the hoarse thunder, like a bloody trumpet,
          Roars a loud onset to the gaping waters
               Quick to devour them.

          Such shall the noise be, and the wild disorder
          (If things eternal may be like these earthly),
          Such the dire terror when the great Archangel
               Shakes the creation;

          Tears up the strong pillars of the vault of Heaven,
          Breaks up old marble, the repose of princes,
          Sees the graves open, and the bones arising,
               Flames all around them.

          Hark, the shrill outcries of the guilty wretches!
          Lively bright horror and amazing anguish
          Stare thro' their eyelids, while the living worm lies
               Gnawing within them.

          Thoughts, like old vultures, prey upon their heart-strings,
          And the smart twinges, when the eye beholds the
          Lofty Judge frowning, and a flood of vengeance
               Rolling afore him.

          Hopeless immortals! how they scream and shiver,
          While devils push them to the pit wide-yawning
          Hideous and gloomy, to receive them headlong
               Down to the centre!

          Stop here, my fancy: (all away, he horrid
          Doleful ideas!) come, arise to Jesus,
          How He sits God-like! and the saints around Him
               Throned, yet adoring!

          O may I sit there when He comes triumphant,
          Dooming the nations! then ascend to glory,
          While our Hosannas all along the passage
               Shout the Redeemer!
                                        --Isaac Watts