Sprung rhythm is a metrical pattern associated with Gerard Manley Hopkins in which each stressed syllable marks the start of a beat, and the number of unstressed syllables between beats can vary. Unlike regular accentual-syllabic meter, it does not count a fixed number of syllables in each line; instead, it creates a driving, flexible rhythm built around strong stresses.
Hopkins used sprung rhythm to imitate speech, emphasize striking sounds, and give his poems a sudden, energetic movement.
Example
The brook leaps bright through shaded stone,
then flashes on and on;
I hear the hill, I hear the wind,
I hear the bird, then dawn.