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short metre
Introduction References & Edit History
Quizzes
Illustration of "The Lamb" from "Songs of Innocence" by William Blake, 1879. poem; poetry
A Study of Poetry
4:043 Dickinson, Emily: A Life of Letters, This is my letter to the world/That never wrote to me; I'll tell you how the Sun Rose/A Ribbon at a time; Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul
Famous Poets and Poetic Form
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) only confirmed photograph of Emily Dickinson. 1978 scan of a Daguerreotype. ca. 1847; in the Amherst College Archives. American poet. See Notes:
Poetry: First Lines
Quick Facts
Also called:
short measure
Abbreviation:
S.M.
Related Topics:
metre
quatrain
poulterā€™s measure
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short metre

prosody
Also known as: short measure
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
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History

short metre, a quatrain of which the first, second, and fourth lines are in iambic trimeter and the third is in iambic tetrameter. Short metre may also refer to a poulterā€™s measure (alternating lines of 12 and 14 syllables) written as a quatrain.