lyriic

Iambic hexameter checker

Shape a draft against twelve-syllable iambic lines (da-DUM × 6). Same syllable and stress engine as the lyriic poetry editor — private in your browser.

This draft hits 12 with matching stress.

Draft

  • Matches

  • Matches

  • Matches

  • Matches

lyriic checks a twelve-syllable line with an iambic (weak–strong) stress contour. English poets commonly place a caesura near mid-line, substitute feet, or add a trailing weak syllable — those will show as mismatches against the ideal grid.

A short history

In English prosody, iambic hexameter is six iambs per line — twelve syllables with stress on every even beat. The line is often called an alexandrine, after the French twelve-syllable measure that took its name from the medieval Roman d’Alexandre.

French alexandrines are primarily syllabic, with a strong medial caesura after the sixth syllable. English practice treats the line as accentual-syllabic and does not always keep that mid-line pause. Long poems wholly in the meter are uncommon; Spenser’s closing alexandrine in each Faerie Queene stanza is the best-known English use, while Drayton’s Poly-Olbion is a rare extended example.

Augustan critics sometimes mocked the line as heavy or slow — Pope’s Essay on Criticism both names and enacts that complaint — yet poets still deploy it for cadence, closure, or deliberate variation beside pentameter.

Famous poems

  • The Faerie Queene — Edmund Spenser

    Fierce warres and faithfull loues shall moralize my song.

    Each Spenserian stanza ends with a ninth-line alexandrine (iambic hexameter) after eight pentameters.

  • Poly-Olbion — Michael Drayton

    Ye sacred Bards, that to your harps' melodious strings

    A long topographical poem written throughout in English alexandrines.

  • An Essay on Criticism — Alexander Pope

    That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along.

    Famous parody of the alexandrine’s “slow length” in a heroic-couplet context.

  • Fifine at the Fair — Robert Browning

    A late Victorian dramatic poem composed largely in English alexandrines.

How iambic hexameter works

English iambic hexameter is six iambs per line: twelve syllables with expected stress on positions 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 (da-DUM × 6). lyriic’s catalog uses that single-line cycle with no fixed stanza length.

In English criticism the line is frequently called an alexandrine. That name also covers the French twelve-syllable heroic line, which is syllabic and traditionally splits 6+6 at a caesura — a different system from this accentual-syllabic checker.

In practice, English hexameter often appears as a closing or variant line (as in Spenser’s stanza) rather than as the sole meter of a poem. Here every line targets twelve iambic syllables.

Iamb (da-DUM)

An iamb is a two-syllable foot with a light beat then a strong one: da-DUM. Everyday words such as “today,” “because,” and “away” often fall into that shape.

Stack iambs and you get iambic meter. Three feet make trimeter (six syllables), four make tetrameter (eight), five make pentameter (ten)—the backbone of blank verse, sonnets, and much English lyric.

When stress-aware checking is on, lyriic marks the expected weak–strong pairs from dictionary stress and compares them to the meter’s contour. Real speech bends the ideal; the marks show the target pattern, not a claim that every poem must be perfectly regular.

Iambic 6-foot contour

Iambic hexameter (alexandrine-style in English teaching) expects six da-DUM feet: twelve syllables with strong beats on positions 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12.

With the stress pack loaded, lyriic compares dictionary stress to that twelve-syllable iambic contour.

Notes on this form

The French classical alexandrine is a syllabic 6+6 line with an obligatory medial caesura, not identical to this English accentual-syllabic model. lyriic does not enforce caesura position, rhyme schemes, or Spenserian stanza shape.

Common questions

What is iambic hexameter?
In English, a line of six iambs: twelve syllables alternating unstressed and stressed (da-DUM × 6). It is often called an alexandrine and is longer than the more common iambic pentameter line.
Does lyriic check stress as well as syllables?
Yes. For Iambic hexameter, lyriic targets twelve syllables and the iambic 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.