When the feet are accented on the first syllable--as in trochaic or
dactylic verse--a syllable may be omitted from the end of a line as in the
second and fourth below.
_ U U | _ U U | _ U U| _ U |
Up with the lark in the first flush of morning,
_ U U | _ U U | _ U U | _ |
Ere the world wakes to its work or its play;
_ U U| _ U U | _ U U | _ U |
Off for a spin to the wide-stretching country,
_ U U | _ U U | _ U U|_ |
Far from the close, stifling city away.
Sometimes we find it necessary to suppress a syllable in order to make the
rhythm more nearly perfect. Syllables may be suppressed in two ways: by
suppressing a vowel at the end of a word when the next word commences with
a vowel; by suppressing a vowel within a word. The former method is termed
elision, and the latter, slurring.
U _ | U _ |U _ | U _ | U _ |
Thou glorious mirror where the Almighty's form
U U
_ U |U _| U _ | U
Glasses itself in tempests.
--Byron.
An accented syllable often takes the place of an entire foot. This occurs
most frequently at the end of a line, but it is sometimes found at the
beginning. Occasionally whole lines are formed in this way. If a pause or
rest is made, the rhythm will be unbroken.
u _ | u _ | u _ |
Break, break, break,
U U _ | U _ | U _ |
On thy cold gray stones, O sea!
U U _ | U U _ | U _|U
And I would that my tongue could utter
U _ | U U _ |U _|
The thoughts that arise in me.
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