Iamb: a metrical foot consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable.
Examples: behold, amuse, arise, awake, return, Noel, depict, destroy, inject, inscribe, insist, employ, "to be," inspire, unwashed, "Of Mice and Men," "the South will rise again."
Trochee: a metrical foot consisting of one long or stressed syllable followed by one short or unstressed syllable.
Examples: happy, hammer, Pittsburgh, nugget, double, incest, injure, roses, hippie, bubba, beat it, clever, dental, dinner, shatter, pitcher, Cleveland, chosen, planet, chorus, widow, bladder, cuddle, slacker, doctor, Memphis, "Doctor Wheeler," "Douglas County," market, picket
Anapest: a metrical foot consisting of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable.
Examples: understand, interrupt, comprehend, anapest, New Rochelle, contradict, "get a life," Coeur d'Alene, "In the blink of an eye"
Dactyl: a metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables or (in Greek and Latin) one long syllable followed by two short syllables.
Examples: strawberry, carefully, changeable, merrily, mannequin, tenderly, prominent, buffalo, Bellingham, bitterly, notable, horrible, glycerin, parable, scorpion, Indianapolis, Jefferson
Spondee: a metrical foot consisting of two long (or stressed) syllables.
Examples: football, Mayday, D-Day, heartbreak, Key West, shortcake, plop- plop, fizz-fizz, drop-dead, dead man, dumbbell, childhood, goof- off, race-track, bathrobe, black hole, breakdown, love-song
Help:
Foot type Style Stress Pattern Syllable count
Iamb Iambic Unstressed + Stressed Two
Trochee Trochaic Stressed + Unstressed Two
Spondee Spondaic Stressed + Stressed Two
Anapest Anapestic Unstressed + Unstressed + Stressed Three
Dactyl Dactylic Stressed + Unstressed + Unstressed Three
Good notes. Now when you use some of the words above you can tell what type of stress (or rhythm) pattern you are using.
ReplyDeleteDon't use too many spondees.