Iambic tetrameter

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Iambic tetrameter is a term used in the study of poetic meter, with two different uses. In the quantitative verse of Ancient Greek and Latin, a line of iambic tetrameter consists of four metra two feet in length, consisting of a spondee and an iamb, or two iambs: | x – u – |. There usually is a caesura in the centre of the line that coincides with the end of the fourth foot, termed diaeresis. Thus the whole line is: | x – u – | x – u – || x – u – | x – u – | ("x" is a syllable that can be long or short, "–" is a long syllable, and "u" is a short one.) In the poetry of modern English and other languages using accentual-syllabic verse, "iambic tetrameter" denotes a line consisting of four iambic feet. The scheme is thus: x / x / x / x / (In this case, "x" is an unstressed syllable while "/" is a stressed syllable.) In such traditions, certain poetic forms rely upon the iambic tetrameter, for example triolet, Onegin stanza, In Memoriam stanza, long measure (or long meter) ballad stanza.