Dactyl

The dactyl is a trisyllabic foot with the stress on the first syllable (—UU). Its name derives from the Greek word for "finger," whose structure (one longer and two shorter phalanges) resembles the ratio of syllables in the foot. Dactylic rhythm has an expansive, solemn, somewhat elegiac movement; the ancient hexameter — dactylic hexameter — was the principal measure of heroic epic (the Homeric poems). In Ukrainian poetry the dactyl lends the line fluidity and a singing quality; it was used for translations of ancient classics and for meditative lyric. Because of their length, trisyllabic measures are generally perceived as slower and "heavier" than the disyllabic iamb and trochee.