# Anapestic trimeter checker

Shape a draft against nine-syllable anapestic lines (da-da-DUM × 3). Same syllable and stress engine as the lyriic poetry editor — private in your browser.

## A short history

An anapest is two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one (da-da-DUM). In classical Greek, anapestic metres were used in marching songs and in dramatic choral entrances and exits; the name comes from Greek anapaistos, “struck back,” because the foot reverses a dactyl.

In English accentual-syllabic verse, anapestic trimeter means three anapests per line — nine syllables with stress on beats 3, 6, and 9. Pure anapests are rarer in English than iambs; the jog-trot rhythm long suited light and comic verse, and after the eighteenth century it also appeared in more serious lyrics. Classroom and workshop teaching often meets the line as the longer half of a limerick (lines 1, 2, and 5).

## Famous poems

### Verses Supposed to Be Written by Alexander Selkirk — William Cowper

I am monarch of all I survey; / I must finish my journey alone,

Often cited as a sustained English anapestic-trimeter lyric; many lines open with an iamb instead of a full anapest.

### There was an Old Man with a Beard — Edward Lear

There was an Old Man with a beard, / Who said, “It is just as I feared!”

Limerick long lines (1, 2, and 5) are commonly taught as anapestic trimeter; Lear’s own scansion is often looser.

### There was a Young Lady of Norway — Edward Lear

There was a Young Lady of Norway, / Who casually sat in a doorway;

Another Book of Nonsense limerick; trimeter frames the A-rhyme lines around shorter dimeter middles.

## How anapestic trimeter works

English anapestic trimeter is three anapests per line: nine syllables with expected stress on positions 3, 6, and 9 (da-da-DUM da-da-DUM da-da-DUM). lyriic’s catalog uses that single-line cycle with no fixed stanza length.

Anapests create a rolling, forward drive that English writers have used for comic limericks, light verse, and occasional serious lyrics. Substitutions — especially an opening iamb — are common in practice and will not match lyriic’s ideal grid.

Limericks pair these longer trimeter lines with shorter anapestic dimeter lines. That five-line alternating cycle is a separate meter in lyriic; here every line targets nine anapestic syllables.

## Anapest (da-da-DUM)

An anapest is a three-syllable foot with two light beats then a strong one: da-da-DUM. Phrases such as “in the dark” or “intervene” show the rising triple feel.

Anapestic meter builds line length by feet: trimeter is nine syllables, tetrameter twelve. The gallop suits comic and narrative verse (think limerick energy or “’Twas the night before Christmas”), though poets freely substitute iambs and other feet.

When stress-aware, lyriic expects that two-weak-then-strong cycle from the dictionary and flags where spoken stress departs from the ideal grid.

## Anapestic 3-foot contour

Anapestic trimeter expects three da-da-DUM feet: nine syllables with strong beats on positions 3, 6, and 9.

When the stress pack is loaded, lyriic marks that rising triple contour against dictionary stress for each nine-syllable line.

## Notes on this form

lyriic checks a nine-syllable line with an anapestic (weak–weak–strong) stress contour. English poets often open with an iamb, drop an opening weak syllable, or loosen stress for speech — those will show as mismatches against the ideal grid.

Limericks mix this trimeter with shorter anapestic lines and an AABBA rhyme scheme. lyriic’s Limerick meter models that five-line cycle separately; this checker targets pure trimeter only. Rhyme is not enforced.

## Common questions

### What is anapestic trimeter?

In English, a line of three anapests: nine syllables with two unstressed beats then a stressed one, repeated three times (da-da-DUM × 3). It is shorter than anapestic tetrameter and often appears as the long lines in a limerick.

### Does lyriic check stress as well as syllables?

Yes. For Anapestic trimeter, lyriic targets nine syllables and the anapestic weak–weak–strong contour when the stress pack is loaded. Open the zen editor with this meter for live rulers beside each line.

### Is my draft uploaded?

No. Syllable and stress checks run locally in your browser. lyriic is local-first and does not require an account.

## Open the editor

Write in the zen editor: https://lyriic.com/

Open with Anapestic trimeter meter: https://lyriic.com/write/anapestic-trimeter