Mammoth Memory

Types of feet

The more common feet, or units of stressed and unstressed syllables, are:

1.  Iambic (pronounced i-am-bick)…

2.  Trochaic (trock-ay-ick) …

3.  Spondaic (spon-day-ick)…

4. Anapestic (anna-pest-ick)…

5. Dactylic (dack-till-ick)…

6. Amphibrachic (am-fib-rack-ick)…

7. Pyrrhic (pirr-ick)…

To remember the names of these metric feet, see the following picture:

Types of feet

I am (iambic) driving a truck (trochaic) in a race with my sponsor (spondaic) and a pest (anapestic) when we have to stop for a duck (dactylic) that’s hanging a bracket (amphibrachic) on a pyramid (pyrrhic).

NOTE:

This is an odd picture, but memorable. If anyone can offer a better picture, then we would welcome hearing from you.

I am – iambic

Truck – trochaic

Sponsor – spondaic

Pest – anapestic

Duck – dactylic

Bracket – amphibrachic

Pyramid – pyrrhic

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