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Unread 06-29-2018, 08:37 AM
E. Shaun Russell E. Shaun Russell is offline
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Join Date: May 2008
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A lot of meter depends on the surrounding lines. I agree that on its own, the line you cite can't effectively be scanned as IP, but it could be a trochaic pentameter line with substitution if you put a stress on the AND:

AND a GER / man SOL / dier di RECT / ing HIM


Whether AND can effectively be emphasized depends largely on the line that came before it, however.



I see nothing wrong with

and a / GER man / SOL dier/ di RECT / ing HIM

but it will be anapestic tetrameter with iambic substitutions (or iambic tetrameter with anapestic substitutions -- take your pick).

Again, though, context matters. Would you call Wordsworth's "London, 1802" trochaic pentameter or iambic? The first two lines start with trochees and there's an initial spondee a few lines down as well, but most of the poem is in perfect IP.
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