It consists of 17 cycles with 72,000 lines in iambic tetrameter or catalectic trochaic tetrameter. The roundelay is a 24 line poem written in trochaic tetrameter. Most of the poem is a more hurried trochaic tetrameter. There are four basic families of verse&colon; dactylic, iambic (and trochaic), Aeolic, and anapestic. It speaks in verse rather than prose, using trochaic or iambic heptameter. The character of this metre is different from the iambic senarius or trochaic septenarius. His dramatic works were written in the iambic senarius and trochaic septenarius. There was a well-established ancient tradition that trochaic rhythm is faster than iambic. The Sami languages have a trochaic pattern of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. Relative stress preferably does not fall on so syllables containing may disrupt the trochaic rhythm. The didactic message is underscored by a vigorous trochaic meter and frequent exclamation. Although other stress patterns appear, the verse is predominantly trochaic. The poem relies on a trochaic beat. It refers to a line of four trochaic feet. The adjective form is "trochaic".