Renaissance Writing:
Structure to the EXTREME!
British Literature
Mrs. Leach
Take NOTES!
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It is crucial that you take notes on this
presentation. The end of this lesson
will culminate into YOU writing a
Shakespearean Sonnet. You cannot
do that if you don’t have the
instructions!
This presentation is on my website.
Elizabethan Poets
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Like modern song writers, Elizabethan
poets used strongly emotional
language to express their love. They
often used a SONNET form.
Sonnet
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14 line-lyric poem with a single theme.
Each line is IAMBIC PENTAMETER or
5 groups of 2 syllables
WE WILL TALK MORE ABOUT THIS
LATER. FIRST YOU NEED TO
LEARN THE BEAT.
SCANSION
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What you will be doing is called
scansion, or the analysis of a poem’s
beat/meter.
POETIC METER
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A regular pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables. It is a rhythmic
“beat” like the steady pulse that brings
you into music.
VIDEO listen for the BEAT!!
Finding the BEAT
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Think about how people say your name. Where is
the emphasis placed? What syllable sticks out?
Take a few moments to discuss a few classmates
names and where you place emphasis.
Examples:
• saMANtha
*GINger
*DAvid
*aLEXus
*Kevin
Don’t put the wrong emPHAsis on the wrong syLAble!
VIDEO Introduction
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Video
Basic Feet
The basic meter feet or “beats” are :
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1. IAMB
2. TROCHEE
3. ANAPEST
4. DACTYL
5. SPONDEE
6. CAESURA
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7. PYRRHIC
8. AMPHIBRACH
9. AMPHIMACER
**you will need to memorize
these!!
IAMB
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Definition: a metrical foot consisting of
one unstressed and one stressed
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Symbols:
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Example: RELIEF
u /
TROCHEE
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Definition: a foot consisting of one
stressed and one unstressed
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Symbols:
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apple
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Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
/
u
ANAPEST
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Definition: a metrical foot consisting of
two unstressed and one stressed
Symbols: u u /
Example: introduce
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.’
DACTYL
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Definition: a metrical foot consisting of
one stressed and 2 unstressed
symbol: / u u
Example: broccoli
A famous example of dactylic meter is in the first few lines of
‘The Lost Leader’ by Robert Browning:
Just for a handful of silver he left us
Just for a rib and to stick in his coat
SPONDEE
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Definition: foot consisting of two
stressed syllables
Symbols: / /
Example: Hog-wild
CAESURA
Definition: a pause
Symbols: I I
*please note that these are different than
the Spondee
PYRRHIC
Definition: two unstressed syllables.
• Symbols: u u
AMPHIMACER
Definition: a metrical foot containing a stressed,
unstressed, and a stressed.
Symbols: / u /
Example: happy days, la-di-dah
Annie Hall's often-quoted line from the movie of that
name is spoken as a amphimacer: "La-di-dah!”
CLIP VIDEO
AMPHIBRACH
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Definition: A metrical foot containing an unstressed,
stressed, unstressed.
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Symbol: u / u
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Example: Limericks often contain an element of
amphibrachic meter. You can hear it in this first
line: “There once was a lady called Joan”
VIDEO
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Watch this video to help reinforce the
information you have just learned.
LINK (watch to 7:09) then pause for
the next several slides.
Practice the Metrical Pattern
On a sheet of paper, write down the following phrases.
Identify the metrical foot of each. Keep in mind to focus on
which part of the word gets the most emphasis.
EXAMPLE: I seek to hold the wind
1. Best of all, victory!
2. I bought a car today.
3. Look for hidden pitfalls.
4. In the cool of the night.
U- unstressed
-stressed
Practice the Metrical Pattern
Answers
1. Best of all, victory!
2. I bought a car today.
3. Look for hidden pitfalls.
4. In the cool of the night.
In addition, SCANSION means
you have to count up the
amount of feet used. There
are names for this too!!
Dimeter: 2ft./line
Trimeter: 3ft./line
Tetrameter: 4ft./line
Pentameter: 5ft./line
Hexameter: 6ft./line
The most common?
Pentameter
Quatrain
A stanza of four lines.
The TURN/VOLTA
A shift in the nature of the SONNET where it begins
responding to itself.
COUPLET
For the rest of the class:
1. Pass out the “Rhythm, Meter, and Scansion Made
Easy” worksheet.
2. Then work on the “Think, Pair, Share Activity 1”