[Curtis Gale Weeks]

Originally posted by MacArthur:

The bottle summer held spills today.

The spring my mother died tropic storms...

In both lines the fourth foot is missing an unaccented syllable. Both could be corrected so:

The bottle summer held to spills today.

The spring my mother died tropical storms...
(reversing the 4th foot, but restoring the missing syllable)

It can be done smoothly, as in the above examples. Most common is to omit a syllable at the beginning of line...almost common practice in contemporary formal verse.

So, for Style #3, you are saying that such ommissions tend to occur within the lines rather than the common practice of using headless iambs?

Thanks for posting the clarification.

Curtis.