Trochee
In poetry, a metrical foot composed of one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. A trochee is the opposite of an Iamb. An example of a trochee would be the words "garden" (GAR-den) or "Poet" (PO-et).
Spondee
A metrical foot composed of two stressed syllables. Cleverly, in the poem, the phrase "strong foot" is itself a spondee ("STRONG FOOT").
Iambic
An Iamb is a metrical foot composed of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. In English poetry, the iamb is the most common meter, probably because it is the natural rhythm of English speech. An example of an iamb is the poem's phrase "from short to Long" ("from SHORT to LONG").
Anapaests
An anapest is a trisyllabic foot composed of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable. For example, in the poem, the line "With a leap and a bound" is composed of two anapests ("with a LEAP and a BOUND").
Amphibrachys
An amphibrach is a trisyllabic foot composed of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable and then another unstressed syllable. An example of an amphibrach is the word "reclining" ("re-CLINE-ing").
Amphimacer
An amphimacer is a trisyllabic foot composed of one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable and then another stressed syllable. It is the opposite of an amphibrach. An example of an amphimacer can be seen in the poem's line, "First and last" ("FIRST and LAST").
Dactyl
In poetry, a dactyl is a trisyllabic foot composed of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. A trisyllabic foot is simply a metrical foot composed of three syllables. The word "poetry" is a dactyl (PO-uh-tree).
