As used by Alcaeus it has the following scheme (where "–" is a longum, "u" a breve, and "×" an anceps): An example, quoted by Athenaeus, is: Apart from a single poem of Statius (Silv.
[5] A notable feature of Horace's Alcaics is the heavy word which usually fills the centre of the 3rd line.
[6] The most common pattern is for the line to end with a polysyllable + trisyllable (e.g. Augustus adiectīs Britannīs).
Poi che un sereno vapor d’ambrosia da la tua còppa diffuso avvolsemi, o Ebe con passo di dea trasvolata sorridendo via; In Polish poetry (in contrast to the Sapphic stanza which was extremely popular since the 16th century) Alcaics were used very rarely.
An example (perhaps the only) of an Alcaic stanza in Polish original literature is Stanisław Trembecki's Ode to Adam Naruszewicz:[10] O ty, kapłanie Delijskiego świętny, Przeszłego wiadom, przyszłości pojętny Wieńcz twe skronie, wieszczą bierz laskę, Śnieżny ubiór i złotą przepaskę.
They were introduced by Klopstock, and used by Hölderlin, by Johann Heinrich Voss in his translations of Horace, by August Kopisch and other 19th century German poets.