Definition of "Alexandrian"

Theſe Triplets and Alexandrians were brought in by Dryden, and other Poets in the Reign of Charles II. They were the mere Effect of Haſte, Idleneſs, and want of Money; and have been wholly avoided by the beſt Poets, ſince theſe Verſes were written.

1735, J[onathan] S[wift], Poems on Several Occasions, Dublin: […] George Faulkner, […], page 32

The Fall of Troy is in blank verse, and may pass muster; but the Dido is in Alexandrians, a most monotonous measure, quite unsuited to a long piece in English.

1909 March, “Two Dramatizations from Virgil: 1. Dido. 2. The Fall of Troy. Arranged and translated into English verse by F. J. Miller. […]”, in The Classical Review, volume XXIII, number CC, page 58, columns 1–2

It follows the pompous versification (the elegant, rhyming Alexandrians), the proverb-like diction, the courteous form of address, and the antithetical reasoning in the portrayal of the struggle in the soul of the hero.

2009, Tonny Aagaard Olesen, “Johan Herman Wessel: Kierkegaard’s Use of Wessel, or The Crazier the Better”, in Jon Stewart, editor, Kierkegaard and the Renaissance and Modern Traditions (Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources; 5), tome III (Literature, Drama and Music), Routledge, published 2016

Usually the Alexandrian breaks into two phrases of three iambic feet each.

2016, Mary Braaten, Shakespeare: Helping an Actor Prepare, Pittsburgh, Pa.: Dorrance Publishing Co, page 59