Sound Devices:
Rhythm and Meter
Syllables
• A syllable is a beat. When a word has one beat, we say it
has one syllable; when a word has two beats, we say it
has two syllables.
Practice:
A. How many syllables are in the following examples?
1. Car 1
2. Blue Car 2
3. Yellow Car 3
4. Her orange car is fast. 6
B. How many syllables are in your name?
Stressed and Unstressed
• People automatically adjust their words so that
some syllables are spoken with emphasis and
some are spoken softer. Our speech naturally
fades in and out and moves up and down as we
speak.
• When we emphasize a syllable or make it louder
we are stressing that syllable. (STRESSED)
• When we soften a syllable and allow it to fade
into the background we are not stressing the
syllable. (UNSTRESSED)
Stressed and Unstressed
• Stressed syllables are marked with an accent
mark ( a slanted line above the syllable kind of
like a sideways exclamation point).
• Unstressed syllables are marked with a shallow
and long “U”.
U
• Example:
Purple
U
U
Excellent
Stressed and Unstressed
• Sometimes it is easier to figure out what is
stressed and unstressed if we raise our hands on
the stressed parts and lower hands on unstressed
parts.
• Practice by marking each syllable as stressed or
unstressed.
1. apricot
2. piano
3. What a lovely day!
Patterns
• Patterns are things that are repeated and
organized in a predictable form.
• Example: yellow green blue yellow green blue
yellow green blue
• Practice: Find the pattern in each example and
draw a line each time the pattern ends and
begins again.
1. cat dog cat dog cat dog
2. A D F A D F A D F A D F A D F
Rhythm and Meter
• The process of analyzing a poem’s pattern of
unstressed and stressed syllables in each line is
called SCANSION.
• If a poem’s rhythm is organized into a
reoccurring pattern, then this is called METER;
• Therefore, scansion is the act of figuring out a
poem’s meter or repeated pattern of beats and
rhythm.
Rhythm and Meter
• Meter is measured in feet. (Not the same as a
ruler or the metric system)
• A foot is a combination of two or three syllables
that are stressed and unstressed.
• The number of syllables and the location of the
stress is what determines what type of foot the
meter is classified as.
Rhythm and Meter
• It is important to realize that SCANSION
is to an extent a matter of interpretation
because the rhythm of a poem can vary
from speaker to speaker and situation to
situation.
• Think: If the same poem was read at both
a funeral and a pep rally, how might the
delivery of that poem change?
Rhythm and Meter
• The four most common feet in English Poetry:
1. IAMB (adj. IAMBIC)
• unstressed-stressed (ta-DA)
• Example- NEW YORK
2. TROCHEE (adj. TROCHAIC)
• stressed-unstressed (TA-da)
• Example- DELHI
Rhythm and Meter
• Common feet (cont.):
3. ANAPEST (adj. ANAPESTIC)
• unstressed-unstressed-stressed (la-la-LA)
• Example- TENNESSEE
4. DACTYL (adj. DACTYLIC)
• stressed-unstressed-unstressed (LA-la-la)
• Example- DELAWARE
Number of feet per line
• NUMBER OF FEET PER LINE:
– 1--MONOMETER
– 2--DIMETER
– 3--TRIMETER
– 4--TETRAMETER
– 5--PENTAMETER
– 6--HEXAMETER
– 7- HEPTAMETER
– 8- OCTAMETER
Scansion
• Scanned lines are labeled in two parts:
– Part 1 is the type of foot or the rhythm of stressed
and unstressed syllables (iamb, trochee, anapest, and
dactyl)
– Part 2 is the number of feet (see part 1) in the line
(monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, etc).
• Practice- label each of the following examples:
1. unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed
Iambic dimeter
2. Stressed, unstressed, unstressed, stressed,
unstressed, unstressed, stressed, unstressed,
unstressed, stressed, unstressed, unstressed
Scansion Practice
• Mark each line with the appropriate unstressed and
stressed syllables (accent mark or U), draw a line
separating each foot in the pattern, and label each
example.
1. un, un , st, un, un , st, un, un , st, un, un , st, un,
un , st, un, un , st,
Anapestic Hexameter
2. st, un, st, un, st, un, st, un, st, un, st, un, st, un,
Trochaic Heptameter
3. un, st
Iambic monometer
Examples of Meter
• “They cannot know, they cannot care”
/ - /
/ - /
 Answer: iambic tetrameter
Examples of Meter
• “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I
/
- / - /
- /
- / pondered weak and weary”
/ /
/ Answer: trochaic octameter
Examples of Meter
• “Love again, song again, nest again, young again.”
/
- /
- /
- /
- -
Answer: dactylic tetrameter
Examples of Meter
• “With the sheep in the fold and the
- /
- - / - cows in their stalls”
/
- /
Answer: anapestic tetrameter
Rhythm and Meter
• From the Renaissance to the rise of the FREE
VERSE in the 20th century, IAMBIC meter was
the most common in English poetry, considered
by many to be the meter closest to everyday
speech.
• Shakespeare mainly wrote in iambic pentameter.
• Blank verse is written in unrhymed, iambic
pentameter.
Any Questions?