noun
- a metrical foot consisting of two stressed syllables
Usage: poetry; prosody
Examples
- The word ‘heartbreak’ is an example of a spondee.
- Shakespeare occasionally used spondees to create emphasis in his verse.
- The poet substituted a spondee for an iamb to slow the rhythm.
- Students learned to identify spondees in classical poetry.
- The spondee ‘dead stop’ emphasizes finality in the line.
- Ancient Greek poetry frequently employed spondees in dactylic hexameter.