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

Octameter (octometer)

Octameter (octometer): A line of verse consisting of eight metrical feet.

EXAMPLE: Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall” (1842), written in trochaic octameter:

Comrades,│leave me│here a│little,│while as│yet ’tis│early│morn;

Leave me│here, and│when you│want me,│sound u│pon the│bugle│horn.

’Tis the│place, and│all a│round it,│as of│old, the│curlews│call,

Dreary│gleams a│bout the│moorland│flying│over│Locksley│Hall… .