^ ^ ^ ^
quarter note eighth note quarter note eighth note eighth note eighth note eighth note quarter note eighth rest
“Proud and lowly, beggar and lord.”

^ ^ ^ ^
quarter noteeighth notequarter noteeighth noteeighth noteeighth noteeighth notequarter noteeighth rest
“Proud and lowly, beggar and lord.”

Now if the whole of “London Bridge,” from which this line is quoted, be read, there will be found several lines that are trochaic beyond question; and the last line of the chorus is iambic. The majority of trochaic lines leads us to decide that the verse is trochaic. From this example one learns to appreciate how nearly alike are trochaic and iambic verses. Both are composed of alternating accented and unaccented syllables; and the kind of metre depends upon which comes first in the foot. In Blake’s “Tiger, Tiger,” there is not a line that clearly shows what kind of verse the poet used. If the unaccented syllable is supplied at the beginning the poem is iambic; if at the end, it is trochaic.

[283] “Tiger, Tiger, burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Framed thy fearful symmetry?”

Silences may occur in the middle of a verse of poetry as well as at the beginning or the end. In the following nursery rhyme it is clear that the prevailing foot is anapestic, though several feet are iambic, and in the first two lines and the last line a single syllable makes a foot. Silences are introduced here as rests are in music.

eighth rest quarter note eighth rest quarter note eighth rest quarter note
“Three blind mice!
eighth rest quarter note eighth rest quarter note eighth note quarter note
See how they run!
^ ^ ^ ^
Hurrah, hurrah for the farm er’s wife!
^ ^ ^ ^
She cut off their tails with a carv ing knife!
^ ^ ^ ^
Did you ev er see such a sight in your life
eighth note quarter note eighth rest quarter note eighth rest quarter note
As three blind mice!”

eighth restquarter note eighth restquarter note eighth restquarter note
“Three blind mice!
eighth restquarter note eighth restquarter noteeighth notequarter note
See how they run!
^ ^ ^ ^
Hurrah, hurrah for the farmer’s wife!
^ ^ ^ ^
She cut off their tails with a carving knife!