Metrical feet and accents
Disyllables
◡ ◡pyrrhic, dibrach
◡ –iamb
– ◡trochee, choree
– –spondee
Trisyllables
◡ ◡ ◡tribrach
– ◡ ◡dactyl
◡ – ◡amphibrach
◡ ◡ –anapaest, antidactylus
◡ – –bacchius
– – ◡antibacchius
– ◡ –cretic, amphimacer
– – –molossus
See main article for tetrasyllables.

Dactylic tetrameter is a metre in poetry.[1] It refers to a line consisting of four dactylic feet. "Tetrameter" simply means four poetic feet. Each foot has a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables, the opposite of an anapest, sometimes called antidactylus to reflect this fact.

Example

A dactylic foot is one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones:

DUM da da

A dactylic tetrameter would therefore be:

DUM da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM da da

Scanning this using an "x" to represent an unstressed syllable and a "/" to represent a stressed syllable would make a dactylic tetrameter like the following:

/ x x / x x / x x / x x

The following lines from The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" demonstrate this, the scansion being:

/ x x / x x / x x / x x
Pic- ture your- self in a boat on a riv- er with
/ x x / x x / x x / x x
tan- ger- ine tree- ees and marm- a- lade skii- ii- es

Another example, from Browning:

/ x x / x x / x x / x
Just for a hand- ful of sil- ver he left us!

Another example from Leonard Cohen of his song "Famous Blue Raincoat":

/ x x / x x / x x / x
What can I tell you my bro- ther my kee- per
/ x x / x x /
What can I poss- ib- ly say

See also

References

  1. ↑ Anthon, Charles (1850). A System of Latin Prosody and Metre: From the Best Authorities, Ancient and Modern. Harper & brothers. pp. 145–155.
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