STRONG AND WEAK SYLLABLES. An accented syllable is _strong_, An unaccented syllable is _weak_. A syllable that bears a secondary or a slight emphasis is _half-strong_. A very weak or slightly pronounced syllable is _light_. Examples. In the words _light_, _alight_, _lighter_, the syllable _light_ is, in each case, 'strong'; the syllables _a-_ and _-er_ are 'weak.' Chaucer sometimes uses such a word as _light-e_, in which the final _-e_ may constitute a syllable of the verse, in which case it is 'weak'; or it may be elided or nearly elided before a vowel, in which case it may conveniently be described as being 'light.' In such a word as _c['o]nquer[`o]r_, there are really two accents. The true 'strong' accent is now on the first syllable; the 'half-strong' or secondary accent is on the third syllable; and it is not unusual to denote this by the use of an acute accent for the strong, and grave accent for the half-strong syllable. s. 99. THREE LATIN TERMS. A word such as _alight_ is often described as constituting an 'iambus' or 'iamb'; and I shall sometimes here use this term, but under protest. An iambus is properly a short syllable followed by a long one; whereas the English iamb is a weak syllable followed by a strong one, which is a very different thing. The confusion between _length_ in Latin verses and _strength_ in English verses is pernicious, and has greatly misled many writers on metre; for the difference between them is fundamental. In the same way, such a word as _lighter_ may be called a 'trochee'; but it must never be forgotten that, in English poetry, it means a strong syllable followed by a weak one, and is independent of the notion of 'length.' Similarly, such a word as _alighted_, in which a strong syllable is situated between two weak ones, may be called an 'amphibrach.' The amphibrach plays a highly important part in English verse, though it is usual not to mention it at all. I shall use these three terms, _iamb_, _trochee_, and _amphibrach_, only occasionally, and for the convenience of the names; it being now well understood that I merely mean such groups of strong and weak syllables as occur in the English words _alight_, _lighter_, and _alighted_. Having thus explained that an 'iamb' has nothing to do with long and short syllables, I shall nevertheless use, to denote it, the ordinary symbol v -. Similarly, the symbol - v means a trochee; and the symbol v - v means an amphibrach. It follows that v here means, not a _short_, but a _weak_ syllable; and - here means, not a _long_, but a _strong_ one. If this be remembered, all will be clear; but not otherwise. s. 100. I shall attempt, first, to describe the versification of the lines in the Canterbury Tales; it will be easy to explain the shorter lines (of four accents) afterwards.