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:
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
