dimeter
Line with two feet
Dimeter is a line of verse with two metrical feet.
In English poetry, this usually means four syllables with two stressed beats: Roses are red / Violets are blue.
The short line creates a clipped, song-like rhythm common in nursery rhymes and light verse.
meter
Two-syllable metrical foot
- trocheeStressed-then-unstressed foot
- spondeeDouble-stress metrical unit
- anapestTrisyllabic metrical foot
- dactylFinger, toe, or verse foot
pyrrhic · foot · scansion · prosody · stressed · unstressed · syllable · quantitative
iamb
Two-syllable metrical foot
- trocheeStressed-then-unstressed foot
- spondeeDouble-stress metrical unit
- anapestTrisyllabic metrical foot
dactyl · pyrrhic · foot · scansion · prosody · stressed · unstressed · syllable · quantitative · beat
couplet
Two successive verse lines
strophe · refrain · half-line · caesura · enjambment · rhyme · blank verse · lyric · ode · epigram
Greek
Of Athenian origin