dimeter

poetic metre

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June 25, 2026

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In poetry, dimeter refers to a line of verse that consists of two metrical feet or two dipodies. A metrical foot is a basic rhythmic unit in a line of poetry, typically composed of a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables.12

Metre is the rhythmic pattern of a poetic line, organizing these feet into a specific pattern. Rhythm, in poetry, is the patterned recurrence of language features, which can be organized by metre. For example, iambic pentameter has five iambs (a type of foot) per line. Dimeter, therefore, is a line with two such feet.2341

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prosody
Syllable-stress metres
…is called monometer, of two dimeter, of three trimeter, of five pentameter, of six hexameter, and of seven heptameter. Lines containing more than seven feet rarely occur in English poetry.
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…is called monometer, of two dimeter, of three trimeter, of five pentameter, of six hexameter, and of seven heptameter. Lines containing more than seven feet rarely occur in English poetry.
Read More