Pyrrhic
A pyrrhic is a metrical foot made of two unstressed syllables. In accentual-syllabic English meter, it is usually marked as u u. Because English speech naturally gives some syllables more weight than others, pyrrhics are usually heard as lighter or less-stressed syllables within a larger metrical pattern rather than as the main meter of an entire poem.

A pyrrhic often creates softness, speed, weakness, quietness, or a low point in the rhythm. It may appear between stronger feet, helping the line vary its movement. Pyrrhics are usually discussed in scansion, where the reader studies how a line’s stresses work.

To understand a pyrrhic, read the line aloud and listen for two syllables that pass lightly together. In the phrase “to the sea,” the words “to the” may be heard as two light syllables before the stronger stress on “sea.” A poet does not usually write a whole poem in pyrrhics, because a poem made entirely of unstressed feet would have little rhythmic force.

Example:

to the SEA

In this phrase, “to the” may function as a pyrrhic foot, followed by the stronger stressed syllable “sea.” The pyrrhic prepares the ear for emphasis.

Pyrrhic is a traditional metrical term. A stricter use identifies two genuinely unstressed syllables in scansion. A looser WoPoLian use may treat the pyrrhic as a deliberate softening device inside a stronger rhythmic line.