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Stress-based tetrameter

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 metrical line consisting of four stressed beats, with a variable number of unstressed syllables

Detailed Definition
Stress-based tetrameter is a four-beat line defined by the number of stressed syllables rather than total syllables, common in English folk verse and hymns; it permits flexibility in unstressed syllables (e.g., “The king | was in | his count | ry house”), fostering a robust, song-like rhythm that prioritizes oral performance and communal recitation over strict syllabic uniformity, as heard in traditional ballads or nursery rhymes.
Example
Example in poetry:
Stress-based tetrameter features four strong stresses per line: “The curfew tolls the knell of parting day” (Gray, “Elegy”); “I wandered lonely as a cloud” (Wordsworth—4 stresses: wan-dered, lone-ly, cloud); “The woods are lovely, dark and deep” (Frost—woods, love-ly, dark, deep); “Break, break, break on thy cold gray stones” (Tennyson—4 clear stresses).
Additional Notes
A Stress-based tetrameter is a four-foot line where the meter is determined by a count of four stressed syllables per line, regardless of the number of unstressed syllables; a common form of folk poetry and nursery rhyme (e.g., Christabel meter).
Also Known As
Accentual tetrameter stress-tetrameter four-beat accentual verse
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