limping iamb
- noun
- /ˈlɪmpɪŋ ˈaɪæm/
- Literature
:
yambo cojo
- A sudden limping iamb can disrupt the expected rhythm of a poem, drawing attention to the line's meaning.
Examples
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The poet cleverly employed a limping iamb to convey a sense of unease in the final line.
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Many classical scholars discuss the effect of the limping iamb in ancient Greek verse.
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The poem features a limping iamb at the end of the stanza.
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Many poets use a limping iamb to create a sense of unease.
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The poet cleverly employed a limping iamb to convey a sense of unease in the final line.
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A sudden limping iamb can disrupt the expected rhythm of a poem, drawing attention to the line's meaning.
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The poem features a limping iamb at the end of the stanza.
Surface Forms
Morphology
limping + iamb
The adjective 'limping' evokes unevenness and combined with 'iamb' (a metrical foot) would lead a learner who knows both words to infer an iamb that is somehow irregular or uneven. However the precise technical sense — that the final foot is a spondee or trochee rather than a canonical iamb — is specialist and not fully predictable from the constituents alone, so the relation is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Limping iamb paints a picture of a walking step that is off: an iamb is a light then strong beat, but in a limping iamb the last foot is heavier and becomes a spondee or trochee. That's why poets use it to make a line feel 'uneven' or to 'draw attention' to the ending.
