Iambic.—A foot of two syllables—short, long ( ̆ ̄ )—the commonest in almost all prosodies,[157] and (though this is sometimes denied) the staple foot of English.
Inverted Stress.—A term used by accentual or stress prosodists to designate the substitution of a trochee for an iamb. Unnecessary, if not erroneous, from the point of view of this book.
Ionic.—A foot of four syllables, consisting of a spondee ( ̄ ̄ ) and a pyrrhic ( ̆ ̆ ). With the spondee first it is called "Ionic a majore"; with the pyrrhic first, a minore. Neither movement is common in English verse, and, if it were, it would hardly require any joint name. But when the music is uppermost, as in "Vilikins and his Dinah," it suggests itself, with the alternative of the third pæon:
Nŏw ăs Dīnā̆h | wăs ă-wālkī̆ng | ĭn thĕ gārdē̆n | sō gāy.[158]
Leonine Verse.—A term not strictly applicable to English, but sometimes found in prosody-books. It means the peculiar mediæval Latin hexameter with middle and end rhymed, as in
Post cœnam stabis: seu passus mille meabis.
Browning comes nearest to it in such lines as
On my specked hide, not you the pride.