, ho! ieroe!"

The last of the common feet which we shall have to consider in
reading English poetry is called _dactyl_. This foot consists of
three syllables, the first of which is accented. Scott's _Boat
Song_ is a very fine example of _dactylic tetrameter_, in which the
last foot consists either of a _trochee_ (see page 16) or of a
single accented syllable. In every stanza there are four short
lines of _dactylic dimeter_. Study the four lines which we have
divided for you below:

Hail' to the | chief' who in | tri'umph ad|van'ces!
Hon'ored and | blest' be the | ev'er green | pine!'
Long' may the | tree', in his | ban'ner that | glan'ces,
Flou'rish, the | shel'ter and | grace' of our | line.'

This is one of the finest meters in which poetry may be written,
and one which you will learn to recognize and like whenever you see
it.

To assist you in remembering what we have said on this subject in
the four poems we have studied, we will give this brief outline:

Poetic feet

1. Consisting of two syllables:
_Iambic_, when the second syllable is accented.
Example: I wan'|dered lone|ly as'| a cloud'.
_Trochaic_, when the first syllable is accented.
Example: Scots', who | have' with | Wal'lace | bled'.

2. Consisting of three syllables:
_Anapestic_, when the third syllable is accented.
Example: How dear' | to my heart' | are the scenes' | of my
child'|hood.
_Dactylic_, when the first syllable is accented.
Example: Hail' to the | chief' who in | tri'umph ad|van'ces.

There are two other feet which are found occasionally in English
poetry, namely the _spondee_, which has two accented syllables, and
the _amphilbrach_, which consists of three syllables with the
accent on the middle one.

Of course it is not necessary for you to know the names of these
different feet in order to enjoy poetry, but it is interesting
information. What you must do is to notice whenever you read poetry
the kind of feet that compose the lines and how many there are in
the line. After a while this becomes second nature to you, and
while you may not really pause to think about it at any time, yet
you are always conscious of the rhythm and remember that it is
produced b