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rocking dimeter

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 dimeter line composed of two choriambic feet (long-short-short-long), producing a gentle, swaying or rocking rhythmic effect.

Detailed Definition
Rocking dimeter is a two-beat line that alternates between rising (iambic) and falling (trochaic) rhythms within the same poem or stanza, creating a swaying or oscillating effect; this metrical instability mimics lullabies, cradle songs, or meditative states, blending forward motion with gentle regression.
Example
Example in poetry:
A metrical line of two feet (dimeter) where each foot is a trochee (′∪) or dactyl (′∪∪), giving it a back-and-forth, swinging rhythm.; A line of two feet where the dominant foot is a trochee, creating a short, stressed-unstressed, 'rocking' cadence: "Double, double, toil and trouble." (First two feet of a four-foot line, but dimeter is two feet).; A line where the two feet alternate between a trochee and an iamb for a deliberately uneven, swaying rhythm: ′∪∪′.; A two-foot line of verse with a pronounced, falling rhythm (′∪′∪) that suggests a swaying or rocking motion.
Additional Notes
Rocking dimeter is a line of verse composed of two rocking feet; a rocking foot (or amphibrach) is a three-syllable foot with the pattern U D U (unstressed-stressed-unstressed).
Also Known As
Swaying dimeter rocking couplet lilting dimeter Choriambic dimeter
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