Meter & Rhythm
Trochee
From Greek trokhaios: running. The trochee gives a falling, emphatic rhythm; associated with incantation, nursery rhyme, and magical language (Shakespeare's witches in Macbeth).
Definition
A metrical foot of one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable (— u) — the reverse of the iamb.
Example
Blake: 'TIger, TIger, BURNing BRIGHT, / IN the FORests OF the NIGHT' — sustained trochaic tetrameter.