Thanks Milo - fim (the meter-less) is starting to grasp meter.

[fim]

leanne, milo and others are the ones in the know,

take a look here;

care of Leanne;

Iambic: an iamb is made up of two syllables where the stress (or accent) is placed on the second syllable.


eg.

"She CANnot FADE, though THOU hast NOT thy BLISS,
For EVer WILT thou LOVE, and SHE be FAIR!"

(Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn".

a half foot is one of the beats. picture;

 da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM

and remove a [da] or a [DUM]  it would leave you a half foot short

1 [da DUM] is a foot of iambic pentameter. eithe of [da DUM] is a half foot

[da] being the unstressed foot and DUM being the stressed one.
here