From the Wave

“From the Wave” is written in four-line stanzas, or quatrains, that rhyme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNMN FOFO. This alternating rhyme scheme is matched by an alternating meter. The meter is largely iambic throughout (an iamb is a two-syllable foot where an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable), but the number of iambs per line varies in an alternating pattern, as does the strictness of the iambic rhythm. The first and third lines of each quatrain are written in iambic tetrameter, meaning there are four iambs on the first and third lines of each stanza. (Tetra means four, so iambic tetrameter is four iambs per line.) The second and fourth lines of each quatrain are written in dimeter, meaning there are two feet on the second and fourth lines of each stanza. (Di means two.) These two feet on the second and fourth lines of each stanza are largely iambic, but they are not as consistently iambic as the four feet on the first and third lines. Instead, on the dimeter lines, the number of stresses seems to count a bit more than the pattern of stresses.