I read it as dactylic hexameter too - but I also read it as overwritten babble.
I think there are limits to how long a line can be and still grab a reader - unless the language is magnificent - and this poem is a good demonstration. The language is very fine and flowing at times - pedantic at others - but the poem is not magnificent, and there are just too many sounds and syllables, too many thoughts, crammed into each line for the ear and eye to handle properly.
Iambic hex works, but it pushes the boundaries. Throw in the extra syllables of a dactyllic line, and all hexameter gets you is seasick. When I'm in charge, dactyllics will be limited to tetrameter. (I nervously await the deluge of rebuttals citing great works in dactyllic hexameter, but, hey, at least we're not talking politics.)
Michael Cantor
[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited August 20, 2005).]
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