抑扬格（iamb或iambic）是音步的一种类型，由两个音节组成，前者轻读（抑），后者重读（扬），形成轻重交替的节奏模式。作为英语诗歌的核心韵律单位，其术语源于古希腊诗律体系，后被引入英语音节-重音系统。

抑扬格

英语中有大量的单词，其发音都是一轻一重，如adore, excite, above, around, appear, besides, attack, supply, believe, return等，所以用英语写诗，用抑扬格就很便利。也就是说，抑扬格很符合英语的发音规律。因此，在英文诗歌中用得最多的便是抑扬格，百分之九十的英文诗都是用抑扬格写成的。下面的那两句诗就是抑扬格诗。

例如：

Alone │she cuts │and binds│ the grain,

And sings │a me│lancho│ly strain.

An iamb or iambus is a metrical foot used in various types of poetry. Originally the term referred to one of the feet of the quantitative meter of classical Greek prosody: a short syllable followed by a long syllable (as in i-amb). This terminology was adopted in the description of accentual-syllabic verse in English, where it refers to a foot comprising an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (as in a-bove).