change the accent a little it would become tedious and monotonous.

It is a very simple matter, you see, to separate every line of
poetry into groups of syllables, and in every group to place one
accented syllable and one or more syllables that are not accented.
Such a group is called a _foot_. Thus in each of the first two
lines in this poem there are four _feet_. Each _foot_ contains an
accented and an unaccented syllable.

If you examine _To the Fringed Gentian_, _To a Mouse_, and _To a
Mountain Daisy_, the three poems which follow this, you will see
the same structure, except that in _To a Mouse_ and in _To A
Mountain Daisy_ there are some short lines and some double rhymes,
making the last foot a little different in character from the
others.

When a line of poetry is composed of two-syllable feet in which the
second syllable bears the accent we call that meter _iambic_. It is
the prevalent foot in English poetry, and if you examine the
different poems in these volumes you will be surprised to find out
how many of them are written substantially on the plan of _The
Daffodils_.

In naming the meter of a poem two things are considered: First the
_character_ of the feet, and second, the _number_ of feet. In this
poem the feet are iambic and there are four of them, consequently
we name the meter of this poem _iambic tetrameter_. Whenever you
hear those words you think of a poem whose meter is exactly like
that of _The Daffodils_.

These words seem long and hard to remember. It may help you to
remember them if you think that the word _iam'bic_ contains an
iambic foot.

In naming the meter we use the Greek numerals--_mono_ (one), _di_
(two), _tri_ (three), _tetra_ (four), _penta_ (five), _hexa_ (six),
_hepta_ (seven), and _octa_ (eight), and add to them the word
_meter_, thus: _Mo-nom'e-ter_, a line containing one foot,
_dim'e-ter_, _trim'e-ter_, _te-tram'e-ter_, _pen-tam'e-ter_,
_hex-am'e-ter_, _hep-tam'e-ter_, _and oc-tam'e-ter_.

TO THE FRINGED GENTIAN

_By_ WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT

Thou blossom, bright with autumn dew,
And colored with the heaven's own blue,
That openest when the quiet light
Succeeds the keen and frosty night;

[Illustration]

Thou comest not when violets lean
O'er wandering brooks and sprin