(S. Weir Mitchell: A Psalm of the Waters. 1890.)
Here, also, the final light syllable might be said to take the place of the missing initial syllable; but the structure of the verse, with the fact that the initial anapest is always truncated and that the final syllable is never accented, indicates that the verse as it stands is the norm of the poem—three-stress anapestic, with initial truncation and feminine ending.
Three-stress dactylic.
(Catalectic:)
This is a spray the Bird clung to,
Making it blossom with pleasure,
Ere the high tree-top she sprung to,
Fit for her nest and her treasure.
(Browning: Misconceptions. 1855.)
Four-stress iambic.
(For specimens, see Part Two.)