trochee
Stressed-unstressed metrical unit
A trochee is a metrical foot in poetry consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one: DUM-da.
Words like "garden," "happy," and "tiger" are natural trochees.
Trochaic meter gives verse a falling, driving rhythm: Tyger, tyger, burning bright.
Compare with iamb, which reverses the pattern.
Two-syllable metrical foot
- dactylFinger, toe, or verse foot
- anapestTrisyllabic metrical foot
- footLeg's lowest part
- iambicVerse rhythm type
pentameter · tetrameter · trimeter · hexameter · dimeter · pyrrhic · substitution · metrical foot
Regional speech pattern
- downbeatNegatively toned or dispirited
- emphasisStress given to something
- accentuationStress placed on syllables
- beatRhythmic pulse or strike
Metered poetic passage
- sonnetFourteen-line metered poem
- balladNarrative poem or song
- nursery rhymeTraditional poem for young children
- chantRepetitive rhythmic phrase
incantation · Shakespeare · Longfellow · Hiawatha · quatrain · stanza · couplet · refrain
iamb
Two-syllable metrical foot
iambic · pentameter · tetrameter · trimeter · hexameter · dimeter · pyrrhic · substitution · metrical foot · scansion
accent
Regional speech pattern
- downbeatNegatively toned or dispirited
- emphasisStress given to something
- accentuationStress placed on syllables
beat · syllable · stress pattern · prominence · falling
verse
Metered poetic passage
- sonnetFourteen-line metered poem
- balladNarrative poem or song
- nursery rhymeTraditional poem for young children
chant · incantation · Shakespeare · Longfellow · Hiawatha · quatrain · stanza · couplet · refrain · oral poetry
- poetry termspoetry, rhyme, verse, rhythm, meter
- poetic devicesalliteration, assonance, consonance, rhyme, simile
- poeticsrhyme, versification, poetic form, stanza, meter
- rhythm termsrhythm, beat, tempo, meter, cadence
- classical prosodydactyl, iamb, anapest, hexameter, pentameter
- meteriamb, dactyl, anapest, iambic, trochaic