“Oh, it’s just an experiment in resolution.”
“Take a pencil, like a good fellow, and scan it for me in the old fashioned way as we used to do at school together.”
He did so:—
I sāw | thĕ cherr|(y’s) moŏnfrōz|ĕn dĕl|ic(ate) īv|(ory)
“It’s a sort of anapaestic resolution,” he explained.
“Anapaestic resolution of what?”
“Of an iambic decasyllabic line.”
“Excuse me, it’s not. Since we’re talking in that sort of jargon, it’s a spondaic resolution of a dactylic line.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you’ve put in four extra syllables for your resolution. I’ll put in a fifth, the word “in.” Now listen!