The
trochee is (along with the
iambus) the most important metre of dramatic poetry. Apart from drama, this line is common in popular verse, and comes into its own in later Latin poetry. The trochaic septenarius is one of the two main forms of trochaic metres in antiquity (the other one being the
trochaic octonarius).
The trochaic septenarius line is theoretically consisted of seven and a half trochees (-^), but in reality only the seventh foot is regularly a trochee, while the others may be a spondee (--), dactyl (-^^), tribrach (^^^) or (rarely) an anapaest (^^-). There is usually a diaeresis after the 4th foot.
Expample (in Latin):
- ^|- - |- ^|- - // - ^|- -| - ^|-
cras amet qui nunqu(am) amavit, // quiqu(e) amavit cras amet
(Pervigilium Veneris)
* - long or stressed syllable; ^ short or unstressed syllable; // diaeresis.