Which term denotes a line of verse with four metrical feet?

• A. Dimeter
• B. Tetrameter
• C. Monometer
• D. Trimeter

Answer: (B)

Meter in poetry measures rhythm by feet, with a foot being a small rhythmic unit, often an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one (an iamb), though other feet exist. When a line contains four of these feet, we call it tetrameter. The prefix tetra- means four, and meter refers to measured rhythm, so four feet per line is tetrameter. A common form is iambic tetrameter, where each of the four feet is an iamb. For example, the line “Whose woods these are I think I know” from Frost’s poem scans as four iambic feet, illustrating how tetrameter works in practice. Other counts exist for shorter lines: one foot is monometer, two feet dimeter, three feet trimeter. In short, four metrical feet per line = tetrameter.