Question

Read the excerpt from "The Eagle” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Which syllable is stressed in the first line of this stanza?

The
wrink-
be-
him

Answer 1

In the first stanza, the stressed syllables are as follows:

the WRINkled SEA beNEATH his CRAWLS;
he WATCHes from his MOUNtain WALKS;
and LIKE a THUNderBOLT he FALLS;

The stressed syllables are emphasized to create a rhythmic pattern in the stanza, known as meter. In this case, the meter is primarily iambic tetrameter, which consists of four iambs (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable) per line.