3. 

O, prec | -ious one,
Let thy | tongue run
In a | sweet fret;
And this | will give
A chance | to live,
A long | time yet.

4.

When thou | dost scold
So loud | and bold,
I’m kept | awake;
But if | thou leave,
It will | me grieve,
Till life | forsake.

5.

Then said | his wife,
I’ll have | no strife
With you, | sweet Dan;
As ’tis | your mind,
I’ll let | you find
I am | your man.

6.

And fret | I will,
To keep | you still
Enjoy | -ing life;
So you | may be
Content | with me,
A scold | -ing wife.” 

        ANONYMOUS:  Cincinnati Herald, 1844.

Iambic dimeter, like the metre of three iambs, is much less frequently used alone than in stanzas with longer lines; but the preceding example is a refutation of the idea, that no piece is ever composed wholly of this measure, or that the two feet cannot constitute a line.  In Humphrey’s English Prosody, on page 16th, is the following paragraph; which is not only defective in style, but erroneous in all its averments:—­

“Poems are never composed of lines of two [-] feet metre, in succession:  they [combinations of two feet] are only used occasionally in poems, hymns, odes, &c. to diversify the metre; and are, in no case, lines of poetry, or verses; but hemistics, [hemistichs,] or half lines.  The shortest metre of which iambic verse is composed, in lines successively, is that of three feet; and this is the shortest metre which can be denominated lines, or verses; and this is not frequently used.”

In ballads, ditties, hymns, and versified psalms, scarcely any line is more common than the iambic trimeter, here denied to be “frequently used;” of which species, there are about seventy lines among the examples above.  Dr. Young’s poem entitled “Resignation,” has eight hundred and twenty such lines, and as many more of iambic tetrameter.  His “Ocean” has one hundred and forty-five of the latter, and two hundred and ninety-two of the species now under consideration; i.e., iambic dimeter.  But how can the metre which predominates by two to one, be called, in such a case, an occasional diversification of that which is less frequent?

Lines of two iambs are not very uncommon, even in psalmody; and, since we have some lines yet shorter, and the lengths of all are determined only by the act of measuring, there is, surely, no propriety in calling dimeters “hemistichs,” merely because they are short.  The following are some examples of this measure combined with longer ones:—­

Example I.—­From Psalm CXLVIII.

1, 2. 
“Ye bound | -less realms | of joy,
Exalt | your Ma | -ker’s fame;
His praise | your songs | employ
Above | the star | -ry frame: 
Your voi | -ces raise,
Ye Cher | -ubim,
And Ser | -aphim,
To sing | his praise.