[ginger]

I have a very elementary question about meter. Since there is only one primary stress in English words, how does one fit longer words into an iambic line? For instance, the word octopus (which I did actually use in one poem) scans Xoo, and the word declaration scans ooXo. I've read that a certain amount of variation is permissible, and even desirable in metrical verse, but does that mean that one can only employ a certain number of these kinds of words in a single poem? What if one wanted to write a piece that used declaration, fascination, trepidation, etc. as end-rhymes but did not want to vary the meter of the entire piece to scan as those words do?

I've also seen quite a bit of talk about the anapest as something to be avoided. Does anyone have the short answer for why?

My advanced thanks for the help.

Ginger