Accentual Verse

[milo]

But if you were writing IP and threw in just one or two more trochees or anapests, wouldn't it be accentual?

If anyone is tempted to answer, please have a drink on me first.

Accentual verse is strictly driven by beats per line. You could make the declaration of independence accentual just by changing the line breaks. It is the equivalent of those diamond shape poems we were writing the other day.

PS. Thanks for the.drink, the bartender would like a word with you

No prob, he's an old friend.

But no poem should be driven by it's form, ideally the form would be silently supporting it. So why couldn't three beat lines just quietly give a little consistency?

Is the question why can't beats be quiet?