Trimeter

Literary/ Cultural Context Note

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  • The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

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Trimeter: a metre in which the line has three sounded beats and one silent beat or

rest

(), the latter generally at the end of the line:

I have met them at close of day Coming with vivid faces From counter or desk among grey Eighteenth-century houses (Yeats, “Easter 1916”)

I have met them at close of day Coming with vivid faces From counter or desk among grey Eighteenth-century houses (Yeats, “Easter 1916”)

The repeated final silent beat gives such verse an awkward, incomplete, thwarted quality, here clearly in tune with the subject matter.

The repeated final silent beat gives such verse an awkward, incomplete, thwarted quality, here clearly in tune with the subject matter.

69 words

Citation: Groves, Peter Lewis. "Trimeter". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 June 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1762, accessed 28 March 2024.]

1762 Trimeter 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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