The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms - Ross Murfin 2018

Masculine ending

Masculine ending: A line of verse ending with a stressed syllable is said to have a masculine ending.

EXAMPLE: Each of the alternating iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter lines in the opening stanza of Stevie Smith’s “Our Bog is Dood” (1950) has a masculine ending:

Oŭr Bóg│ı̇̆s dóod,│ŏur Bóg│ı̇̆s dóod,

Thĕy lі́sped│ı̇̆n ác│cĕnts mі́ld,

But when I asked them to explain

They grew a little wild.

How do you know your Bog is dood

My darling little child?