Final answer:
The poetic meter of the given line is dactylic tetrameter, which is determined by the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables forming four dactylic feet in the line.
Step-by-step explanation:
The poetic meter of the line "just for a handful of silver he left us, just for a riband to stick" is dactylic tetrameter. Poetic meter is determined by the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in each line. The terms 'tetrameter' and 'pentameter' refer to the number of feet in a line, with tetrameter consisting of four feet and pentameter consisting of five feet. A dactyl is a metrical foot with one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. Therefore, if this line has four dactylic feet, it would be classified as dactylic tetrameter.