easure_.

In like manner we have _trochaic monometer_, _dimeter_, _trimeter_,
_tetrameter_, _pentameter_, and _hexameter_. The following line,

"As unto the bow the cord is,"

is _trochaic tetrameter_, which is the meter of "Hiawatha."

The foregoing are called dissyllabic meters; but the trisyllabic
measures have the same names according to the number of feet. A verse
consisting of a single dactyl is thus _dactylic monometer_; of two
dactyls, _dactylic dimeter_; and so on up to _dactylic hexameter_, which
is the meter of Homer's "Iliad," Vergil's "AEneid," and Longfellow's
"Evangeline" and "Courtship of Miles Standish." The line,

"Softly the breezes descend in the valley,"

is _dactylic tetrameter_, though the last foot is a trochee.

In like manner we have anapestic lines of all lengths from monometer to
hexameter. The line,

"How she smiled, and I could not but love,"

contains three anapests, and is therefore _anapestic trimeter_.

But the time element of a poetic foot is important, as it explains the
seeming irregularities often met with in verse. An additional syllable
may be added to a foot or subtracted from it when the _time_ of the foot
or verse is not changed. By rapid utterance two syllables are often
equal to one, and in this way an anapest is frequently used with the
_time_ value of an iambus. In like manner a pause may sometimes take the
place of an unaccented syllable. Both cases are fully illustrated in
Tennyson's well-known lyric,--

"Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O sea!"

In spite of the seeming irregularity of this poem, the presence of the
proper _time_ element, together with the regular accents, preserves its
metrical harmony.

There are few poems without slight metrical irregularities. The meter is
varied to prevent monotony, to give emphasis to a word, or to respond
better to some turn of the thought or feeling. Take, for example, the
following couplet from Wordsworth:

"To me the meanest flower that blows can give
_Thoughts that_ do often lie too deep for tears."

The meter is iambic pentameter; but the first foot of the second line is
a trochee, and emphasizes _thoughts_ with fine effect. The time of the
line remains unchanged.

In Milton we read,--

"Leviathan, which God of all his works
Created _hugest that swim_ the ocean stream."

This is likewise iambic pentameter; but in the second line a clumsy