“Touch her not scornfully.”
[273] An Amphibrach is a three-syllable foot accented on the middle syllable. It is uncommon. Example:—
“Three fishers went sailing out into the West.”
An Anapest is a three-syllable foot accented on the last syllable. Example:—
“It was many and many a year ago.”
A Spondee is a very uncommon foot in English. It consists of two long syllables accented about equally. It occurs as an occasional foot in a four-syllable rhythm. No English poem is entirely spondaic. The four-syllable foot and the spondee are so uncommon that there is little use in the pupil’s knowing more than that there are such things. The example below is quoted from Lanier’s “The Science of English Verse.”
^ ^ ^ ^ eighth note eighth note eighth note eighth note quarter note eighth note eighth note quarter note quarter note “Ah, the au tumn days fade out, and the nights grow chill
^ ^ ^ ^ eighth note eighth note eighth note eighth note eighth note eighth note eighth note eighth note quarter note quarter note And we walk no more to ge ther as we used of yore When the rose was new in blossom and the sun was on the hill,
And the eves were sweetly vocal with the happy whippoorwill,
And the land-breeze piped its sweetest by the ocean shore.”
| ^ | ^ | ^ | ^ | |||||||
| eighth note | eighth note | eighth note | eighth note | quarter note | eighth note | eighth note | quarter note | quarter note | ||
| “Ah, the | au | tumn | days | fade | out, | and | the | nights | grow | chill |
| ^ | ^ | ^ | ^ | ||||||||
| eighth note | eighth note | eighth note | eighth note | eighth note | eighth note | eighth note | eighth note | quarter note | quarter note | ||
| And we | walk | no | more | to | ge | ther | as | we | used | of | yore |
Kinds of Metre.A verse is a single line of poetry. It may contain from one foot to eight feet.