Trochaic tetrameter

In English poetry, trochaic tetrameter is a meter featuring lines composed of four trochaic feet. The etymology of trochaic derives from the Greek trokhaios, from the verb trecho, meaning I run. In modern English poetry, a trochee is a foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Thus a tetrameter contains four trochees or eight syllables. In classical metre, the word tetrameter means a line with four metra, wherein each metron contains two trochees. Thus a classical trochaic tetrameter contains 16 syllables (15 syllables if catalectic). The rhythm of a line of an English trochaic tetrameter is: Using the symbols of classical poetry, the longum and the breve (brevis), a line of trochaic tetrameter is represented as: When the tetrameter is catalectic, the last syllable of the line is omitted. An example of epic poetry written in trochaic tetrameter is The Song of Hiawatha (1855), by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The excerpt below is from the stanzas about “Hiawatha’s Childhood”. The bold text indicates the accented syllables of each trochee: By the shores of Gitche Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water, Stood the wigwam of Nokomis, Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.