Rossetti uses alternating meters for the voices of the traveller and guide. The traveller’s questions all fall into lines of iambic pentameter. The guide usually replies in trimeter, though on several occasions speaks in tetrameter and pentameter. The trimeter lines, with their three swift beats, are particularly suited for conveying the tonal differences between the characters. The traveller is desperate and searching, filling long lines with questions. The guide is sure and cryptic, dealing out appropriately short lines.
