Alexanʹdrines (4 syl.)

Iambic verses of 12 or 13 syllables, divided into two parts between the sixth and seventh syllable; so called because they were first employed in a metrical romance of Alexander the Great, commenced by Lambert-li-Cors, and continued by Alexandre de Bernay, also called Alexandre de Paris. The final line of the Spenserian stanza is an Alexandrine.

“A needless Alexandrine ends the song,

Which, like a wounded snake, I drags its slow length along.”