The metrical beat in the The Splendor falls on castle walls is___________

Analyzing the question: The poem is Tennyson's "The Splendour Falls" (from The Princess). You are asked to identify the metrical foot (the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables) used in its opening line.

Concept: Metrical feet:

• Iambic: unstressed + stressed (da-DUM)
• Trochaic: stressed + unstressed (DUM-da)
• Anapaestic: unstressed + unstressed + stressed (da-da-DUM)
• Dactylic: stressed + unstressed + unstressed (DUM-da-da)

Scanning the line:

"The SPLEN | dour FALLS | on CAS | tle WALLS"

• The (unstressed) SPLEN (stressed)
• dour (unstressed) FALLS (stressed)
• on (unstressed) CAS (stressed)
• tle (unstressed) WALLS (stressed)

The pattern is da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM. That is four feet of unstressed + stressed, so the line is iambic tetrameter.

(Note: the poem's later lines, such as "Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying", shift the rhythm a little, but the dominant metre in the opening line, which is what the question quotes, is iambic.)

Answer: D. Iambic.

Tip: Say the line aloud and tap the beat. If the rhythm rises (weak → strong), like a heartbeat "da-DUM", it is iambic. Remember: Iambic = "I am" (weak-strong). Most English verse, including Shakespeare's blank verse, is iambic.