u-'|u-',

the line being broken up into three equal and similar parts, each of
which is called a _foot_. The foot consisting of an unaccented followed
by an accented syllable is called an _iambus_.

In the line,

"Home they brought her warrior dead,"

we observe that beginning with the first syllable every other one is
accented, giving us the following as the scheme of the verse:

-'u|-'u|-'u|-'.

The last foot is obviously incomplete or _catalectic_. The foot that
consists of two syllables, the first of which is accented, is called a
_trochee_. It is the opposite of the _iambus_.

Again, in the line,

"This is the forest primeval; the murmuring pines and the
hemlocks,"

it will be noticed that, beginning with the first, each accented
syllable is followed by two unaccented syllables, except in the last
foot, which is a _trochee_. The scheme of the verse is as follows:

-'uu|-'uu|-'uu|-'uu|-'uu|-'u.

This foot, consisting of one accented syllable, followed by two
unaccented syllables, is called a _dactyl_.

Once more, in the line,

"Through the depths of Loch Katrine the steed shall career,"

the third syllable is accented, and the scheme of the verse may be thus
indicated:

uu-'|uu-'|uu-'|uu-'.

This foot, which is the opposite of the dactyl, is known as the
_anapest_.

A _spondee_ is a foot of two equally accented syllables; as,
_mainspring_, _sea-maid_. There is still another foot, known as the
_amphibrach_, which consists of three syllables, the second of which is
accented, as in the word _de-ni'-al_. The scheme of the following line,

"The flesh was a picture for painters to study,"

may be indicated thus:

u-'u|u-'u|u-'u|u-'u.

But nearly all English poetry is based upon the four feet,--_iambus_,
_trochee_, _dactyl_, and _anapest_,--first given.

+50. Meters.+ A verse is named from the number of prevailing feet. A
verse containing one iambic foot is called _iambic monometer_; two feet,
_iambic dimeter_; three feet, _iambic trimeter_; four feet, _iambic
tetrameter_; five feet, _iambic pentameter_; six feet, _iambic
hexameter_. The line,

"The twilight hours like birds flew by,"

is made up of four iambic feet, and is therefore an _iambic tetrameter_.
_Iambic pentameter_, in which Milton's "Paradise Lost," much of Pope's
poetry, Shakespeare's dramas, and, indeed, a large proportion of English
verse, are written, is called _heroic m