Last article discussed the iamb and to quickly review it is one foot in poetry consisting of two syllables who receive the accent: ta TUM.

From this we looked at iambic pentameter which is five feet, five iambs.

The trochee is quite the opposite. It is TUM ta. The most famous example of this is likely Longfellow's "Hiawatha" And who has never heard:
BY the SHORES of GITCH e GU mee.

Note the difference. The poem flows quite differently than iambic pentameter. This is also different in another sense and that is only four feet per line.

Trochaic verse can often easily be changed to iambic simply by adding a word at the beginning. An example:

THEN the LIT tle HI a WA tha

and THEN the LIT tle HI a WA tha

Oops, but what about the "dangling" syllable at the end? Here is another term: "feminine ending" A line ending on an unaccented syllable is said to have a feminine ending. Often these scan as an iamb with the last part missing. That is usually seen as a pause so it is a good trick to know if you want your reader to pause at the end. (I bet you can guess what a "masculine ending" is. You're right! a line that ends with an accented syllable)

That same trick of pausing sometimes comes into play in the middle of a line and should be indicated by a comma, the natural punctuation to indicate a short pause. This comma can be used to replace a missing syllable.

Iambic lines also can be made trochaic by adding a word at the beginning:

Lets change the iambic line above back to trochaic:

NOW and THEN the LIT tle HI a WA tha.

Now... homework: Remember, Poetry is an oral art... Listen to others speak and notice the accented and unaccented syllables. This is great practice to learn what is naturally accented. While poets will adapt lines and make them fit patterns, it reads much more natural and easier if natural patterns are followed as much as possible. In fact, when I find myself stumbling through a poem, I'll often go back and try to see why. Usually it is because the poet has twisted the rhythm too far out of line... and the poem falls flat.

Next: Anapest and Dactyl

bob