Cadence

Maxwell's poem “The Nerve” is written in iambic feet, each foot containing first an unstressed syllable and then a stressed syllable. Note the word “perhaps” in the first stanza. The first syllable (per-) is unstressed, with the second syllable (-haps) receiving the stress. For people who speak English, iambic meter in poetry is the most natural rhythm. It is a rhythm most similar to the spoken language.

“The Nerve” is composed of twelve stanzas. Each stanza is a quatrain; that is, it contains four lines. The pattern of the rhythm is (with some exceptions) basically a first line of five iambic feet (a pentameter), a second line of three iambic feet (a trimeter), a third line of two iambic feet (a dimeter), and a last line of one iambic foot (a monometer).The use of iambic meter, because it most closely reflects natural speech, could have been chosen...