As the long roll of the hexameter and the stately march of the alcaic were expressive of the gravity and majesty of the Roman State, so the ring and flow of the Saturnian verse may be regarded as indicative of the freedom and genial enjoyment of life, characterising the old Italian peasantry.
"The Roman Poets of the Republic"
W. Y. Sellar
The Sapphic or alcaic ode, a simple sequence of identical stanzas, could be imitated or revived in Latin by translators or disciples: the scheme of it is exquisitely adequate and sufficient for comparatively short flights of passion or emotion, ardent or contemplative and personal or patriotic; but what can be done in English could not be attempted in Latin.
"Poems & Ballads (First Series)"
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Picture the bride in her orange blossoms, the bridegroom in his magpie dress-he could not adopt the time-honoured blue frock, being a cleric-the bridesmaids in their scarlet and white trains of tulle and tulips-the Bishop of Chumpchopster in his voluminous lawn sleeves pronouncing the blessing in his well-known and to be-much-admired alcaic manner.
"Caught in a Trap"
John C. Hutcheson
