good
example has been given in the lines on page 273, beginning,--

"Ah, the autumn days fade out, and the nights grow chill."

And the first foot of a line may lack a syllable, as in the first line
of "Break, Break, Break," by Tennyson.

In a line like the following, it is sometimes difficult to tell
whether the syllable is omitted from the first or the last foot. If
from the first, the verse is iambic, and is scanned like this:--

| ^ | ^ | ^ | ^ |
| r q | e q |e q | e e e |
"Proud and low ly, beg gar and lord."

If the last foot is not full, the line is trochaic.

| ^ | ^ | ^ | ^ |
| q e | q e | e e e | q r |
"Proud and low ly, beg gar and lord."

Now if the whole of "London Bridge," from which this line is quoted,
be read, there will be found several lines that are trochaic beyond
question; and the last line of the chorus is iambic. The majority of
trochaic lines leads us to decide that the verse is trochaic. From
this example one learns to appreciate how nearly alike are trochaic
and iambic verses. Both are composed of alternating accented and
unaccented syllables; and the kind of metre depends upon which comes
first in the foot. In Blake's "Tiger, Tiger," there is not a line that
clearly shows what kind of verse the poet used. If the unaccented
syllable is supplied at the beginning the poem is iambic; if at the
end, it is trochaic.

"Tiger, Tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Framed thy fearful symmetry?"

Silences may occur in the middle of a verse of poetry as well as at
the beginning or the end. In the following nursery rhyme it is clear
that the prevailing foot is anapestic, though several feet are iambic,
and in the first two lines and the last line a single syllable makes a
foot. Silences are introduced here as rests are in music.

| r q | r q | r q |
"Three blind mice!
| r q | r q | e q |
See how they run!
| ^ | ^ | ^ | ^ |
Hurrah, hurrah for the farm er's wife!
| ^ | ^ | ^ | ^ |
She cut off their tails with a carv ing knife!
| ^ | ^ | ^ | ^ |
Did you ev er see such a sight in your life
|e q | r q | r q |
As three