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Hyper-extended four-foot

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 four-beat line stretched beyond its normal metrical structure by added syllables or stresses

Detailed Definition
Hyper-extended four-foot refers to an iambic tetrameter line that surpasses eight syllables via extra unstressed syllables, often to mimic breathless urgency, lyrical overflow, or colloquial ease; common in ballads and light verse, this extension preserves the underlying four-beat pulse while allowing syntactic freedom, as in nursery rhymes or Dickinson’s hymn-meter variants where the “overflow” signals emotional or spiritual excess.
Example
Example in poetry:
Longfellow’s “Evangeline” uses hyper-extended four-foot lines like “This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks”; Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall” extends tetrameter with feminine endings: “In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin’s breast”; Contemporary poet A.E. Stallings extends four-foot lines in “Hapax Legomenon” with polysyllabic grace; Robert Browning’s “How They Brought the Good News” uses hyper-extended tetrameter to mimic galloping horses; Walt Whitman’s early poems like “I Sing the Body Electric” stretch four-beat lines with cataloging; Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” occasionally extends tetrameter for narrative urgency.
Additional Notes
Hyper-extended four-foot stretches tetrameter beyond expected length, often for dramatic effect. Contrast with deficient tetrameter. Common in incantatory or ritual verse—note how surplus syllables build tension or solemnity.
Also Known As
Extended tetrameter Overlong four-foot Hypermetrical tetrameter Expanded measure line Hyperiambic tetrameter
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