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Four-beat line

Meter
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A poetic line containing four stressed syllables, common in Anglo-Saxon and ballad meters

Detailed Definition
A four-beat line is a verse line structured around four primary stresses or beats, regardless of total syllable count, common in Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse, ballads, and modern free verse; it provides a strong, song-like rhythm that balances regularity with flexibility.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The curfew tolls the knell of parting day” (Gray’s “Elegy”) is a classic four-beat line (iambic tetrameter); “I wandered lonely as a cloud” (Wordsworth) follows four-beat rhythm; “The way a crow / Shook down on me” (Frost) uses tetrameter; “Whose woods these are I think I know” (Frost) maintains steady four-beat pulse.
Additional Notes
A four-beat line contains four stressed syllables, regardless of total syllables; typical in ballads, hymns, and folk poetry—offers rhythmic stability and oral fluency.
Also Known As
Tetrameter line four-stress verse rhythmic quartet strong-beat line Beat tetrameter Quadruple measure
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