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Ten-foot 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 ten metrical feet, often used for grand or expansive effect

Detailed Definition
A ten-foot line is an exceptionally long metrical line containing ten poetic feet (e.g., decasyllabic if iambic), creating a rolling, expansive rhythm suited to epic or prophetic utterance; though rare in English, it appears in experimental or Whitmanesque free verse for grandeur and inclusiveness.
Example
Example in poetry:
Longfellow’s “Evangeline” uses ten-foot (decasyllabic) lines: “This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks”; Dryden’s heroic couplets often stretch to ten-foot lines in translation; Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock” occasionally extends to ten-foot lines for mock-epic effect; contemporary example: Derek Walcott’s “Omeros” uses ten-foot lines to echo Homeric hexameter in English.
Additional Notes
A ten-foot line contains ten metrical feet (e.g., decasyllabic iambic pentameter x2); rare and often used for epic or ceremonial effect—contrasts with truncated pentameter.
Also Known As
Decameter line ten-foot verse expansive line heroic length decameter Ten-syllable line
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