Question

In this excerpt from Richard Lovelace's "To Lucasta Going to the Wars," which lines use iambic trimeter?

Tell me not, Sweet, I am unkind, That from the nunnery Of thy chaste breast, and quiet mind To war and arms I fly. True, a new mistress now I chase, The first foe in the field; And with a stronger faith embrace A sword, a horse, a shield.

Answer 1

Hi there!

In this excerpt from Richard Lovelace's "To Lucasta Going to the Wars", the lines that use iambic trimeter are:

"To war and arms, I fly",

"The first foe in the field",

"A sword, a horse, a shield".

An iamb is a metrical foot with an unstressed syllable followed a stressed syllable.

On the other hand, an iambic trimester is a meter of poetry with three iambs per line, resulting in a total of six syllables. This meter was common in Greek tragedy and comedy, and it also was the meter in which verses were spoken.

Hope it helps!