Home › Glossary › Letter T

Two-beat foot

Meter
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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 foot consisting of two stressed syllables (e.g., in spondaic or ionic patterns), often used for emphasis or rhythmic disruption.

Detailed Definition
Two-beat foot is a metrical unit containing two stressed syllables, also known as a spondee. This heavy pattern creates emphasis, weight, and dramatic deceleration, often used to break regular rhythm, add solemnity, or emphasize crucial words through concentrated stress.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Tyger Tyger, burning bright” (William Blake, “The Tyger”)—each “Tyger” and “burning” forms a two-beat trochaic foot; “Come live / with me / and be / my love” (Christopher Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”)—though iambic overall, individual two-beat iambs like “with me” illustrate the foot in isolation; “Break, break / on thy / cold gray / stones, O Sea!” (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Break, Break, Break”)—the opening “Break, break” is a spondaic two-beat foot emphasizing forceful repetition; “The way / a crow / shook down / on me” (Robert Frost, “Dust of Snow”)—each “The way” and “a crow” functions as a two-beat iambic foot; “Heart! We / will for-/get him!” (Emily Dickinson, “Heart! We will forget him!”)—“Heart! We” is a two-beat trochaic foot conveying emotional urgency; “Stop all / the clocks” (W.H. Auden, “Funeral Blues”)—the opening “Stop all” is a spondaic two-beat foot that halts time with emphatic stress.
Additional Notes
Metrical foot of two unstressed syllables. Also called pyrrhic or dibrach. Rare in English as sustained pattern but common within other feet.
Also Known As
Duple foot Two-stress measure Binary beat Dipodic unit Disemic Two-syllable foot
Skip to main content