Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism

by F. V. N. Painter

the third syllable is accented, and the scheme of the verse may be thus indicated:

This foot, which is the opposite of the dactyl, is known as the anapest.

A spondee is a foot of two equally accented syllables; as, mainspring, sea-maid. There is still another foot, known as the amphibrach, which consists of three syllables, the second of which is accented, as in the word de-ni'-al. The scheme of the following line,

"The flesh was a picture for painters to study,"

may be indicated thus:

But nearly all English poetry is based upon the four feet,—iambus, trochee, dactyl, and anapest,—first given.

50. Meters. A verse is named from the number of prevailing feet. A verse containing one iambic foot is called iambic monometer; two feet, iambic dimeter; three feet, iambic trimeter; four feet, iambic tetrameter; five feet, iambic pentameter; six feet, iambic hexameter. The line,

"The twilight hours like birds flew by,"