tetrameter

...In other words, as Eliot's style of poetry became more modern, the way the words were spoken in his poems became more rapid, with a line of four-note steps being divided by a pause into two groups, one of which became a group with only one stress in the two-note steps, and the other two-note step became a compound group with both stresses retained. Therefore, hexameter(a)，alexandrine(b)(a) This is the｜forest pri｜meval.The｜murmuring｜pines and the｜hemlocks.｜(b) And sing｜ing still｜dost soar，｜and soar｜ing e｜ver singest.｜pentameterA lit｜tle knowl｜edge is｜a dan｜gerous thing.｜tetrameter(a) 'Tis｜the mid｜dle of night｜by the cas｜tle clock，｜(b) Swallow,my｜sister,O｜sister swallow，｜(b) The sedge｜is with｜er'd from｜the lake，｜trimeter(a) We look｜before｜and after｜(b) Higher｜still Although "and higher" and "higher" still exist as poetic forms today, today's authors and readers do not recognize the accent or rhythm that these poetic forms require, but read them at a faster tempo to satisfy modern rhythms. This phenomenon also occurs in Japanese poetry.

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "tetrameter" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…エリオットの作詩法は別の言葉でいえば，現代に近づくにしたがい詩の言葉の話しかたが急速になり，4音歩行の1行は小休止によって2音群に分かれ，その一つは2音歩が一つしか強勢をもたぬ1音群となり，他の2音歩は二つの強勢を保存して複合1音群となった。したがって六音歩詩行hexameter(a)，alexandrine(b)(a)　This is the｜forest pri｜meval.The｜murmuring｜pines and the｜hemlocks.｜(b)　And sing｜ing still｜dost soar，｜and soar｜ing e｜ver singest.｜五音歩詩pentameterA lit｜tle knowl｜edge is｜a dan｜gerous thing.｜四音歩詩tetrameter(a)　‘Tis｜the mid｜dle of night｜by the cas｜tle clock，｜(b)　Swallow,my｜sister,O｜sister swallow，｜(b)　The sedge｜is with｜er’d from｜the lake，｜三音歩詩trimeter(a)　We look｜before｜and after｜(b)　Higher｜still and｜higher｜等は詩の形体としては今日も存在しているが，今日の作者または読者は，これらの詩形が要求するだけのアクセントまたは音歩を認めず，より早いテンポで，現代的な音律感を満足さすように読んでいる。この現象は日本の詩歌にも生じている。…

※「tetrameter」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報