American Literature / Unit 1 AML 0010 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Trochee, Anapest, Dactyl, Spondee
Captions available
The idea
A trochee reverses the iamb, stressed then unstressed, as in "tiger". An anapest runs two unstressed then one stressed, the gallop of Byron's Assyrian coming down. A dactyl reverses the anapest. A spondee is two hard stresses together, the glossary's example being Hopkins's phrase "shook foil".
In practice
Four feet beside the iamb.
Where people slip
Trochaic openings are common in iambic poems.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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