In Dryden (probably from insufficient information), in Warton (less excusably), and in some more modern writers (without any excuse at all), "long Alexandrine," or sometimes even Alexandrine by itself, is used to designate the fourteener, "seven-beat," or seven-foot iambic line. This ignores the derivation, contravenes the established use of French, the special home of the metre, and introduces an unnecessary and disastrous confusion.
Alliteration.—The repetition of the same letter at the beginning or (less frequently) in the body of different words in more or less close juxtaposition to each other. This, which appears slightly, but very slightly, in classical poetry, has always been a great feature of English. During the Anglo-Saxon period universally, and during a later period (after an interval which almost certainly existed, but the length of which is uncertain) partially, it formed, till the sixteenth century, a substantive and structural part of English prosody. Later, it became merely an ornament, and at times, especially in the eighteenth century, has been disapproved. But it forms part of the very vitals of the language, and has never been more triumphantly used than in the late nineteenth century by Mr. Swinburne.
Amphibrach.—A foot of three syllables—short, long, short ( ̆ ̄ ̆ )—literally "short on each side." According to some, this foot is not uncommon in English poetry, as, for instance, in Byron's
Thĕ blāck bănds | căme ōvĕr
Thĕ Ālps ănd | thĕir snōw,
as well as individually for a foot of substitution. Others, including the present writer, think that these cases can always, or almost always, be better arranged as anapæsts—
Thĕ blāck | bănds căme ō|ver
Thĕ Ālps | ănd thĕir snōw,
and that the amphibrach is unnecessary, or, at any rate, very very rare in English.
Amphimacer ("long on both sides").—Long, short, long ( ̄ ̆ ̄ )—an exactly opposite arrangement to the amphibrach, also, and more commonly, called Cretic. It is more than doubtful whether this arrangement, as an actual foot, ever occurs in English verse or is suitable to English rhythm; but the name (preferably Cretic) is sometimes useful to designate a combination of syllables belonging to more feet than one, and possessing a certain connection, as expressing either the quantity of a single word or that of a rhetorical division[155] of a line.