Things native sweetly grew,
Which there mine eye did view,
Plain, simple, cheap, on either side the street,
Which was exceeding fair and wide;
Sweet mansions there mine eyes did meet,
Green trees the shaded doors did hide:
My chiefest joys
Were girls and boys
That in those streets still up and down did play,
Which crown'd the Town with constant holiday.
An irregularly-set stanza from a poem by Thomas Traherne. Read it aloud and note how the setting has helped you to find the right cadence. Used as an example in Oliver Simon's Introduction to Typography, this stanza is indented purely according to its rhythmic scheme, with the first and second verse-lines having three feet. Line 3 has five feet, followed by a trio of lines with four feet. The very short lines have just two feet. Home