Dimeter
Quick answer: Dimeter is a verse line made of two metrical feet. Learn how this short line works, where famous poets have used it, and when to reach for it yourself.
Dimeter is a line of verse built from two metrical feet, giving the line two main beats. Depending on the foot, that can mean anything from four syllables (two iambs) to six (two dactyls or anapests). It sits one step up from monometer in length, short enough to feel urgent, long enough to hold a complete image or phrase.
Poets choose dimeter when they want speed, tension or song. The short line quickens the reader's descent down the page and gives white space a louder voice. You will find it in nursery rhymes, in nimble light verse, in laments where each line falls like a bell stroke, and in modern poems that want a spare, chiselled look.
How It Works
Two feet, two beats. An iambic dimeter pair might run, in an original example: 'The kettle hums, / the morning comes.' Each line is da-DUM da-DUM, quick and complete. Switch to dactyls and the character changes entirely: 'Carefully, tenderly, / carry her memory.' Those falling triple feet give the line a rocking, elegiac motion. Because the line is so short, every substitution is loud; swap one foot and the reader feels the floor shift. Rhyme arrives fast in dimeter too, since line endings come thick and frequent.
Where You Will See It
Thomas Hood's 'The Bridge of Sighs' (1844) is the celebrated dactylic dimeter poem, its tumbling short lines mourning a drowned woman with strange, urgent tenderness. Much earlier, John Skelton's helter-skelter short-lined verse, now called Skeltonics, ran on two and three beat lines. In the twentieth century, poets like Robert Creeley made the very short line a signature, though usually in free verse rather than strict metre. Song lyrics and hymns also lean on dimeter for refrains, where brevity makes lines memorable.
How to Use It in Your Own Poems
Match dimeter to subjects that benefit from urgency or restraint: a chase, a prayer, a list, a held-back grief. Keep sentences flowing over the line breaks or the poem will sound chopped. Watch rhyme density; with endings every few syllables, full rhyme can turn relentless, so consider slant rhyme or spacing rhymes further apart. A tight dimeter poem shows deliberate structural control, the sort of thing that scores well when a judge weighs structure and language, as Writory's monthly readers do.
What poets can take from this
- Run syntax across line breaks to keep short lines from sounding like a shopping list.
- Choose your foot deliberately: iambic dimeter ticks, dactylic dimeter tumbles.
- Use slant rhyme to soften the rapid drumfire of frequent line endings.
- Give each line one clear image or action; two beats cannot carry more.
- Read the poem aloud at speaking pace to check the lines breathe rather than gasp.
Try it yourself
Write a poem in dactylic dimeter about someone packing a single suitcase in a hurry, letting the falling rhythm of each two-beat line echo the rhythm of folding, pressing and closing.
Questions
What is an example of dimeter in poetry?
Thomas Hood's 'The Bridge of Sighs' (1844) uses dactylic dimeter throughout, with two falling triple feet per line. Many nursery rhymes and hymn refrains also move in two-beat lines.
How many syllables are in a dimeter line?
It depends on the foot. Two iambs or trochees give four syllables, while two anapests or dactyls give six. The constant is two main stresses per line, not a fixed syllable count.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
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