It should, moreover, perhaps be added that, at most periods of English poetry, monosyllabic feet, such as hardly exist in classical prosody, are undoubtedly present. These can be regarded, if any one pleases, as made up to dissyllabic value by the addition of a pause or interval. Nor is there any valid objection to the admission of a "pause foot" entirely composed of silence. These two kinds of feet, however, are comparatively rare, and require no specific names.
TABLE OF FEET
| Feet of Two Syllables. | Of Three. | Of Four. | Of Five. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iamb, | ̆ ̄ | Amphibrach, | ̆ ̄ ̆ | Antispast, | ̆ ̄ ̄ ̆ | Dochmiac. (See under head.) |
| Pyrrhic, | ̆ ̆ | Anapæst, | ̆ ̆ ̄ | Choriamb, | ̄ ̆ ̆ ̄ | |
| Spondee, | ̄ ̄ | Anti-Bacchic, | ̆ ̄ ̄ | Di-iamb, | ̆ ̄ ̆ ̄ | |
| Trochee, | ̄ ̆ | Bacchic, | ̄ ̄ ̆ | Dispondee, | ̄ ̄ ̄ ̆ | |
| Cretic, | ̄ ̆ ̄ | Ditrochee, | ̄ ̆ ̄ ̆ | |||
| [see TN below] | Dactyl, | ̄ ̆ ̆ | Epitrite (four forms) | ̆ ̄ ̄ ̄ | ||
| Molossus, | ̄ ̄ ̄ | ̄ ̆ ̄ ̄ | ||||
| Tribrach, | ̆ ̆ ̆ | ̄ ̄ ̆ ̄ | ||||
| ̄ ̄ ̄ ̆ | ||||||
| [see TN below] | Ionic: | |||||
| a majore, | ̄ ̄ ̆ ̆ | |||||
| a minore, | ̆ ̆ ̄ ̄ | |||||
| Pæon (four forms) | ̄ ̆ ̆ ̆ | |||||
| ̆ ̄ ̆ ̆ | ||||||
| ̆ ̆ ̄ ̆ | ||||||
| ̆ ̆ ̆ ̄ | ||||||
| Proceleusmatic, | ̆ ̆ ̆ ̆ | |||||
[TN - note under Trochee]: (The trochee ("running foot") was sometimes also called "choree," [a]χορειος], or [a]χοριος] ("dancing foot"), this form appears in "choriambic.")
[TN - note under Cretic]: (The Cretic was also called amphimacer, its arrangement being just the opposite to the amphibrach.)
Fourteener.—A line of seven iambic feet which emerges as almost the first equivalent of the old long A.S. line in English, as early as the Moral Ode, etc. At first it is oftenest a "fifteener," from the presence of the final e; but this drops off. Very largely used by Robert of Gloucester and others in the late thirteenth century; varied in Gamelyn; much mixed up with the doggerel of the fifteenth; frequent in the sixteenth, both alone and as "poulter's" measure; and splendidly used by Chapman in his translation of the Iliad. Sometimes employed to vary heroic couplet by Dryden. A favourite metre ever since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Splits into "ballad-measure."
Galliambic.—A classical metre of which the most famous, and only substantive, example is the magnificent Atys of Catullus, but which has been imitated in two fine English poems, Tennyson's great Boadicea and Mr. George Meredith's Phaethon. Both of these have given a rather trochaic-dactylic swing to the metre, which is probably unavoidable in English. The late Mr. Grant Allen endeavoured to make out, and attempted in his translation of the Atys, an iambic basis with anapæstic and tribrachic substitution, but unsuccessfully. Ionic a minore (v. inf.) is the ancient suggestion; and, with an accentual liberty not unsuitable to its half-barbaric associations, it fits Catullus pretty well. But Ionics, as has been said, do not suit English (v. inf. p. [285], note).
Gemell or Geminel ("twin").—Terms applied by Drayton to the heroic couplet.