In the Table below notice how two short vowels” of the Quantitative Meter equate with two unstressed syllables of Accentual-Syllabic forms in Qualitative meter. These iconic symbols represent the Pyrrhic foot.
These two short vowel symbols (ᵕ ᵕ) are known as the dibrach in quantitative meter of the Greek and Roman poetry. In English poetry where qualitative meter is used, these two short syllable symbols ( ᵕ ᵕ) are known as a pyrrhic. The pyrrhic is not used to construct an entire poem due to its monotonous sound effect.
In Verses 1, 2, 3 and 4 of stanza 50 of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “In Memoriam”, measuring four iambic tetrameter verses rhyming abba, in the sequence of lyrics make in memoriam an “envelope stanza” to his friend Arthur Henry Hallam in 1849 shows the use of the pyrrhic. In this excerpt one cannot but notice that he used the pyrrhic foot only two times in the stanza used here as an exemplar. Take a look:
Envelope Stanza is a quatrain with the rhyme scheme abba, such that verses 2 and 3 are enclosed between the rhymes of verses 1 and 4.
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