Trochaic tetrameter

Example

The rhythm of a line of an English trochaic tetrameter is:

Using the symbols of classical poetry, the longum and the breve (brevis), a line of trochaic tetrameter is represented as:

When the tetrameter is catalectic, the last syllable of the line is omitted.

Literature

''The Song of Hiawatha''

An example of epic poetry written in trochaic tetrameter is The Song of Hiawatha (1855), by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The excerpt below is from the stanzas about “Hiawatha’s Childhood”. The bold text indicates the accented syllables of each trochee:

By the shining Big-Sea-Water, Stood the wigwam of Nokomis, Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis. Dark behind it rose the forest, Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees, Rose the firs with cones upon them; Bright before it beat the water, Beat the clear and sunny water, Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.}}

''A Midsummer Night’s Dream''

William Shakespeare employed trochaic tetrameter in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1594), in the dialogues of the fairies, which are written in catalectic trochaic tetrameter; Puck speaks:

But Athenian found I none, On whose eyes I might approve This flower's force in stirring love. Night and silence.—Who is here? Weeds of Athens he doth wear: This is he, my master said, Despised the Athenian maid; And here the maiden, sleeping sound, On the dank and dirty ground. Pretty soul! she durst not lie Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy. Churl, upon thy eyes I throw All the power this charm doth owe. When thou wakest, let love forbid Sleep his seat on thy eyelid: So awake when I am gone; For I must now to Oberon.}}

The conversation between Puck and Oberon is written in catalectic trochaic tetrameter:

Flower of this purple dye, Hit with Cupid's archery, Sink in apple of his eye. When his love he doth espy, Let her shine as gloriously As the Venus of the sky. When thou wakest, if she be by, Beg of her for remedy.

Re-enter PUCK

PUCK Captain of our fairy band, Helena is here at hand; And the youth, mistook by me, Pleading for a lover's fee. Shall we their fond pageant see? Lord, what fools these mortals be!

OBERON Stand aside: the noise they make Will cause Demetrius to awake.

PUCK Then will two at once woo one; That must needs be sport alone; And those things do best please me That befal preposterously.}}

''King Lear''

The character of Edgar disguised as "Poor Tom", in King Lear (1605):

Tom will throw his head at them: avaunt, you curs! Be thy mouth or black or white, Tooth that poisons if it bite; Mastiff greyhound, mongrel grim, Hound or spaniel, brach or him, Or bobtail tyke or trundle-tail, Tom will make him weep and wail; For with throwing thus my head, Dogs leap the hatch and all are fled.}}

''Macbeth''

The Three Witches in Macbeth (1606):

When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

SECOND WITCH When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won.

THIRD WITCH That will be ere the set of sun.

FIRST WITCH Where the place?

SECOND WITCH Upon the heath.

THIRD WITCH There to meet with Macbeth.

FIRST WITCH I come, graymalkin!

SECOND WITCH Paddock calls.

THIRD WITCH Anon!

ALL Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air.}}

Latin liturgy

In the 13th century hymns written in medieval Latin, the Dies Irae is the poetry sequence of the Roman Catholic requiem mass; the first two verses are:

Solvet sæclum in favilla Teste David cum Sibylla!}}

quando judex est venturus, cuncta stricte discussurus!}}}}

In the Stabat Mater meditation on the suffering of Mary, during Jesus' crucifixion, the first two verses are:

iuxta Crucem lacrimosa, dum pendebat Filius.}}

contristatam et dolentem pertransivit gladius.}}}}

Kalevala meter

Balto-Finnic (e.g. Estonian, Finnish, Karelian) folk poetry uses a form of trochaic tetrameter that has been called the Kalevala meter. The Finnish and Estonian national epics, Kalevala and Kalevipoeg, are both written in this meter, which like Germanic alliterative verse makes heavy use of alliteration within the poetic line. The meter is thought to have originated during the Proto-Finnic period. Its main rules are as follows (examples are taken from the Kalevala):

Syllables fall into three types: strong, weak, and neutral. A long syllable (one that contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or ends in a consonant) with a main stress is metrically strong, and a short syllable with a main stress is metrically weak. All syllables without a main stress are metrically neutral. A strong syllable can only occur in the rising part of the second, third, and fourth foot of a line:

("Brother dear, little brother")}} A weak syllable can only occur in the falling part of these feet:

("I have a mind to ...")}} Neutral syllables can occur at any position. The first foot has a freer structure, allowing strong syllables in a falling position and weak syllables in a rising position:

("My father used to sing them") vesois/ta ve/tele/miä (1:56) ("tugged from the saplings")}} It is also possible for the first foot to contain three or even four syllables.

There are two main types of line: a normal trochaic tetrameter and a broken trochaic tetrameter. In a normal tetrameter, word-stresses and foot-stresses match, and there is a caesura between the second and third feet:

A broken tetrameter (Finnish murrelmasäe) has at least one stressed syllable in a falling position. There is usually no caesura:

Traditional poetry in the Kalevala meter uses both types with approximately the same frequency. The alteration of normal and broken tetrameters is a characteristic difference between the Kalevala meter and other forms of trochaic tetrameter.

References

References

1. Howell, Anthony. (2019-06-30). "The Step Is the Foot: Dance and Its Relationship to Poetry". Grey Suit Editions.
2. (2019-03-14). "Trochaic - Examples and Definition of Trochaic".
3. Ferber, Michael. (2019-09-05). "Poetry and Language". Cambridge University Press.
4. Harvilahti, Lauri. (2013). "The SKVR Database of Ancient Poems of the Finnish People in Kalevala Meter and the Semantic Kalevala". Oral Tradition.
5. (1977). "Finnish Folk Poetry: Epic: An Anthology in Finnish and English". Finnish Literature Society.
6. (1999). "The Kalevala". Oxford University Press.