Foot

(73 words)
  • John Constable (University of Cambridge; now Renewable Energy Foundation)

Short Note This is a short note

The metrical unit of verse comprising a number of stressed and unstressed syllables. These are usually marked up with the sign ‘u’ over the unstressed syllable and a forward slash over the stressed syllable. Thus the kinds of feet appear as:

Anapest: u u /
Dactyl: / u u
Iamb: u /
Trochee: / u
Spondee: / /
As an aid to memory, each Greek word actually has the stress pattern it names. Thus Spondee has two stresses, spond-dee.

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Citation:
Constable, John. "Foot". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 June 2002
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=426, accessed 22 May 2013.]