iambus

It will, no doubt, be considered ridiculous by the Fannii and Fanniae of our day to talk of varying the trochee with the iambus, or of resolving either into the tribrach.

From Famous Reviews by R. Brimley Johnson

Thus the three words marked above make a 'choriambus'—u u —, or perhaps a 'paeon primus'—u u u; a dactyl, by virtue of comic rapidity, being only equal to an iambus when distinctly pronounced.

From Literary Remains, Volume 2 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The trochee and the dactyl are interchangeable; and the iambus and the anapest are interchangeable.

From English: Composition and Literature by W. F. (William Franklin) Webster

The daintiest alternation of iambus and trochee is joined to the serpent's cunning in swiftly tripping dactyls.

From Shandygaff by Christopher Morley

In a lonely hollow walk, overgrown with sting-nettles he scanned the deadly verses on his fingers, until the murderous iambus flowed evenly upon its four feet without a halting choliambus.

From Withered Leaves. Vol. I. (of III) A Novel by Rudolf von Gottschall

These specimens, as is usual in anapestic verse, show considerable freedom in the treatment of the part of the foot containing the light syllables, substituted iambi being very common.

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden

Here the tendency is to use iambi and anapests in alternate feet; see especially lines 2, 3, and 5.

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden

Note the iambi in the Shelley stanza, line 1, second foot, and line 5, first foot.

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden

Certainly those sun-burnt "doughboys" were not bothering themselves about trochees and iambi and such toys of cultivated "literary" persons; they were amusing themselves on the march by inventing words to fit the "goose-step."

From A Study of Poetry by Bliss Perry

Bibaculus wrote poems against the monarchical party; these are referred to as iambi by Quintilian, x.

From The Student's Companion to Latin Authors by George Middleton

Trimeter iambus, consisting of six feet, which are generally all iambuses.

From History of Roman Literature from its Earliest Period to the Augustan Age. Volume I by John Dunlop

Thus we have learned to scan lines by iambuses, or rather by their accentual imitations, and a perfect line would consist of ten syllables, of which the alternate ones bore a rhythmical stress.

From The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] Introduction and Publisher's Advertising by William George Clark

It was not by chance that the line of five iambuses became the dominant metre of our language.

From Writings in the United Amateur, 1915-1922 by H. P. (Howard Phillips) Lovecraft

It does not have to consist of five iambuses only, but other feet may be substituted almost at the caprice of the poet.

From The Literature of Ecstasy by Albert Mordell

But the tendency of the Alexandrine consisting merely of the usual iambuses, is to convey slowness—although it conveys this idea feebly, on account of conveying it indirectly.

From Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII No. 1 January 1848 by Robert Taylor Conrad