_An Anapest is a three-syllable foot accented on the last syllable._
Example:--

"It was many and many a year ago."

A Spondee is a very uncommon foot in English. It consists of two long
syllables accented about equally. It occurs as an occasional foot in a
four-syllable rhythm. No English poem is entirely spondaic. The
four-syllable foot and the spondee are so uncommon that there is
little use in the pupil's knowing more than that there are such
things. The example below is quoted from Lanier's "The Science of
English Verse."

| ^ | ^ | ^ ^ |
| e e e e | q e e | q q |
"Ah, the autumn days fade out, and the nights grow chill
| ^ | ^ | ^ ^ |
| e e e e | e e e e | q q |
And we walk no more to gether as we used of yore
When the rose was new in blossom and the sun was on the hill,
And the eves were sweetly vocal with the happy whippoorwill,
And the land-breeze piped its sweetest by the ocean shore."

Kinds of Metre.

_A verse is a single line of poetry._ It may contain from one foot to
eight feet.

_A line made of one foot is called monometer._ It is never used
throughout a poem, except as a joke, but it sometimes occurs as an
occasional verse in a poem that is made of longer lines. The two lines
which follow are from the song of "Winter" in Shakespeare's "Love's
Labour's Lost." The last is monometer.

"Then nightly sings the staring owl
Tu-whit."

_A line containing two feet is called dimeter._ It also is uncommon;
but it does sometimes make up a whole poem; as, "The Bridge of Sighs,"
already mentioned. Another example is:--

^ ^
"I'm wearing awa', Jean,
^ ^
Like snaw when it's thaw, Jean,
^ ^
I'm wearing awa'
^ ^
To the land o' the leal."

It is frequently met as an occasional line in a poem. Wordsworth's
"Daisy" shows it.

"Bright _Flower!_ for by that name at last,
When all my reveries are past,
I call thee, and to that cleave fast,
Sweet, silent creature!
That breath'st with me in sun and air,
Do thou, as thou art wont, repair
My heart with gladness, and a share
Of thy meek nature!"

_A line containing three feet is called trimeter._ Example:--