Trochee

A metrical foot in poetry consisting of two syllables, the first stressed and the second unstressed. This rhythmic pattern, represented as / ˘ (where / denotes stressed and ˘ denotes unstressed), creates a falling rhythm. Trochaic verse often lends a strong, sometimes abrupt or emphatic, feeling to the poem, and can also create a sense of deliberate pace. The trochee is contrasted with the iamb, which has the opposite stress pattern. It appears frequently in nursery rhymes, and in the poetry of cultures throughout the world.

Trochee meaning with examples

• Consider the opening of Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven': 'Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary...' The inherent trochaic rhythm, with stressed syllables falling on 'Once,' 'mid,' 'drear,' 'pon,' 'weak,' and 'wear,' establishes a sense of doom and foreboding, setting the tone for the narrative's dark theme.
• Robert Frost occasionally uses the trochee: 'Here's an open, sun-lit clearing, where the birch trees gently sway.' This use of trochaic structure, which stresses 'Here's,' 'open,' 'sun,' 'clear,' 'where,' 'birch,' and 'gen,' alters the tone and gives it a unique texture, differentiating it from the dominant iambic structures of his other poems.
• In children's poetry, trochees create a sing-song quality: 'Hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock...' The initial stress on each word creates a simple, memorable rhythm that is easy for children to grasp and enjoy. It's a useful device for making poems fun and memorable.
• The Greek word *trokhaios* translates to 'running' and is the origin of trochee, hinting at the falling effect of its two syllables. This emphasis gives a feeling of urgency or directness. The meter can also set a brisk or even abrupt pace.
• Advertisers have been known to utilize the trochaic meter: 'Taste great, less fill' is an example. This cadence, coupled with the brief phrases, makes the words catchy, and adds a memorable pattern to the campaign to stay longer in the viewers mind.