Substitution is a concept that depends on the convention of scanning English poetry according to foot-based meters derived from Latin prosody. The word has proved helpful in explaining why what is called, say, iambic pentameter includes numerous feet that are not iambic. Any of Shakespeare's sonnets will provide examples in almost every line of functional substitution, with trochees (/ *), spondees (/ /) and even pyrrhics (* *) taking the place of many of the iambic feet. An extreme example of substitution would be King Lear's outburst following Cordelia's death:

                                        /  *     /   *    /   *    /   *    /  *
                                    Never, never, never, never, never.

One could say that there are five consecutive trochaic substitutions. But one must remember that this line is found in a metrical context where the iambic norm has been thoroughly established early in the play, and is reestablished at the end.

Anapestic meters almost always include feet that are different from the common anapest (* * /). Indeed, most anapestic lines begin with an iamb (* /), making them technically headless lines. And commonly other trisyllabic, or triple-meter, feet take the place of anapests, such as the amphimacer (/ * /) or the bacchiac (* / /). But substitution does not change the basic rhythm, unless it is so common, as in Milton's companion poems "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso," that it becomes impossible to say for sure whether the meter is iambic or trochaic.

Like most terms used in prosody, substitution is arbitrary, inexact, problematic, sometimes confusing--but often useful as a shorthand way of explaining variation of an expected rhythm. It works best when the underlying template is unmistakable and when the line seems easily divided into feet. Shakespeare's sonnets are a prime example:

    /      *  |  *        /    | *    /  |  *     /  | *     /
They that have power to hurt and will do none,             trochaic first foot

   *    / |   *    / | *     /   |   *      /  |   *    /
That do not do the thing they most do show,                 regular

   *       / |  *     / | *     * |   *     /    |  *   /
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,             possible pyrrhic third foot

  *    / |  *     /    |  *   * |  *    /   | *    /
Unmovèd, cold, and to temptation slow,                     possible pyrrhic third foot

    *     / |  *   / | * / | *   / |  *      /     *
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces                        hypermetric, feminine rhyme

    *    /  |  *    /  | *       / | *     /  |  *   /
And husband nature's riches from expense;                 probably regular

    /     *  |  *   /   |   *     / | *     * | *     /   *
They are the lords and owners of their faces,              possible trochaic or spondaic first foot,
                                                                                 pyrrhic fourth foot, feminine/hypermetric
  /    * |  *    / |    *     * |  *    / | *   /
Others but stewards of their excellence.                     trochaic first foot, pyrrhic third foot

    *   /    | *         / |   *  / | *     /   | *      /
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,             probably regular, possible third place pyrrhic

      *     / | *  / | *  / | * /  |   *    /
Though to itself it only live and die,                             probably regular, possible first place pyrrhic

   *  / | *       /   |   *      /   | *  /   | *    /
But if that flower with base infection meet,                 regular

  *      / | *      /   |  *     /    |  *    / | * /
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:                     probably regular, possible third place spondee

  *      /  |   *       / |   *      /   | *  * |   *      /
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;        possible fourth-position pyrrhic

  /  * |  *    /  | *     /  |   /     /     |  *       /
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.            trochee first foot, spondee fourth foot

Without being overingenious, one may interpret the rhythmic substitutions so as to explain their functionality. The last line is especially forceful--an outburst that follows a protracted sequence of mostly regular lines.

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