1. Rhythm
Rhythm
The recurrence of accent or stress in lines of verse. In the following lines from "Same in
Blues" by Langston Hughes, the accented words and syllables are underlined:
I said to my baby,
Baby take it slow....
Lulu said to Leonard
I want a diamond ring
- A movement with uniform or pattern that has a beat.
2. Foot- a unit composed of stressed (U) and unstressed syllables (/).
There are many types of feet.
ex of an iambic: U/
Dreams by Langston Hughes
Hold fast/ to dreams
For if /dreams die
Life is/ a bro/ken-winged bird
That can/not fly.
old fast /to dreams
For when/ dreams go
Life is /a bar/ren field
Frozen /with snow.
3. Meter
The arrangement of a line of poetry by the number of syllables and the rhythm of accented (or
stressed) syllables. Meter determined by number of feet in line:The meter can be depicted as a
chain of feet, each foot being a sequence of syllable types — such as unstressed/stressed or
long/short.
Iambic Pentameter is the most famous
But soft!/ What light/ through yon/der win/dow breaks?” (U / ǀ U / ǀ U / ǀ U / ǀ U / )
“A horse!/ A horse!/ My king/dom for/ a horse!” (U / ǀ U / ǀ U / ǀ U / ǀ U / )
(The stressed syllables are in bold.)
4. iamb- one syllable unstressed and the other is stressed.
ex: “I Know the Lake” Stephen Pickering
I know/ the lake.
There’s noth/ing more.
What is /at stake
Is be/hind the door.
Up in /the sky
Your hair /flew wild.
Your sun/glassed eyes
They hid /the child.
I thought /you said
To meet /down there.
We’d find /the bed
Without /a care.
It’s ov/er now.
It died /somehow.
5. Pyrrhic footA foot used for formal poetry. Consists of 2 unaccented, short syllables. (UU) Unaccented
means not stressed syllables. / (Accented) means stressed syllables.
Example: "To a | green thought | in a | green shade."
More about Pyrrhic Foots: Notice how soft the highlighted words sound and how the words
ahead of them make more of an impression on you.