Question

What effect does this structure give to the impact of the poem in "Miniver Cheevy"?

Answer 1

The rhythm is mainly iambic, with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, which is a typical ballad rhythm. However, this rhythm is broken up by the name "Miniver," which has a dactylic rhythm (one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables). Besides that variation, the use of feminine rhymes at the end the second and fourth lines of each stanza causes the rhythm to break from strict iambic as well. Feminine rhymes are rhymes that take two or more syllables, such as "prancing" and "dancing." Since these rhymes end on an unaccented syllable, the lines containing these rhymes have an extra syllable in them, throwing off the iambic rhythm