Accentual Verse

[Truerenigma]

We had a discussion you were involved in about this while back ella--the one where the double dactyl first came up. member?

nevermind. we were talking about quantitative verse. pologies.

(really, outdated or not effective in modern english is, well outdated and ineffective in modern english, irregardless)

Now I'm really confused, that's something else, no.

Editors of The Encyclopædia Britannica: quantitative verse, in prosody, a metrical system based on the duration of the syllables that make up the feet, without regard for accents or stresses. Quantitative verse is made up of long and short syllables, the duration of which is determined by the amount of time needed for pronunciation. This system has only rarely been used successfully in English poetry because of the strongly accentual nature of the English language. It was used mainly by classical Greek and Roman poets.

Yes, it is something else. Latin and Greek, not Saxon. Anyway accentual verse's most popular usage in its heyday was four accents, often alliterated, with a strong pause or caesura dividing them into sets of two. Try Beowulf. Of course you'll have to learn an obsolete language to actually understand it, though I'm told it's worth it.