Meter
Prose – words, phrases, sentences,
paragraphs, chapters
Poetry – syllables, feet, lines, stanzas,
cantos
Without the division of lines – no poem,
without the meter – no music
Meter
Rhythm – pulse or beat we feel in a phrase of music or a poem.
Sense of rhythm comes from everyday life and experiences with
language and music
Meter – poetry’s rhythm or its pattern of stressed and unstressed
syllables.
Poetic foot – is a measured unit of meter, made up of stressed
and unstressed syllables
Lexical stress – dictionary stress
Rhetorical stress – stress placed on a word for effect
Metrical stress – expectation drives the stress, meter gets
established
Whose woods/ these are/ I think / I know
Type of metric foot
Iambic/ iamb
Trochaic/ trochee
Anapestic/ anapest
Dactyllic/dactyl
Spondaic/spondee
Pyrrhic
accent/stress
example
/
today, balloon
/
happy, soda
/
obvious, contradict
/
cigarette, maniac
/ / Downtown, manmade
of the
Da dum
DA
dum (FORest) = Trochee
DA DUM (RED CAT) = Spondee
da da DUM (like a WOLF) =
Anapest
DA da DUM (CUT the FLESH) =
Dactyl
da dum (and the) (-ing the) =
Pyrrhic
meter
Duple – two syllable feet - - -IT
Triple – three syllable feet - - AD
Rising feet/ascending feet– iamb, anapest - vowels
Falling/descending feet – trochee, dactyl - - consonants
Substitute feet – spondee, pyrrhic
Amphibrach – a foot with unstressed, stressed,
unstressed syllables / Chicago
Anacrusis – an extra unaccented syllable at the
beginning of a line before the regular meter
begins
Mine by the right of the white election
Number of metric feet
Type of Line
One foot
Two feet
Three feet
Four feet
Five feet
Six feet
Seven feet
Eight feet
Nine feet
monometer
dimeter
trimeter
tetrameter
pentameter
hexameter
heptameter
octometer
nonometer
meter
Amphimacer – a foot with stressed, unstressed,
stressed syllables
/ / attitude
Catalexis – an extra unaccented syllable at the
ending of a line after the regular meter ends
(opposite of anacrusis)
Scansion – the analysis of these mechanical
elements within a poem to determine meter.
Feet are marked off with slashes /
Bĕcaǘse/ Ĭ coǘld / nŏt stóp/ fŏr deáth
Can you figure out the number and
type of feet?
Iambic pentameter_____________
Dactylic Trimeter _____________
Anapestic dimeter ______________
Spondaic monometer ______________
Trochaic tetrameter ______________
Examples
iambic pentameter (5 iambs, 10 syllables)
That time | of year | thou mayst | in me |
behold
trochaic tetrameter (4 trochees, 8 syllables)
Tell me | not in | mournful | numbers
anapestic trimeter (3 anapests, 9 syllables)
And the sound | of a voice | that is still
dactylic hexameter (6 dactyls, 17 syllables; a
trochee replaces the last dactyl)
This is the | forest pri | meval, the | murmuring
| pine and the | hemlocks
Mixed Meter
There WAS..|..a TIME..|..when MEAD..|..ow, GROVE,..|..and STREAM,
Iambic Pentameter
.........1................2...............3................4.
The EARTH,..|..and EV..|..ry COM..|..mon SIGHT,
Iambic Tetrameter
.....1..............2
To ME..|..did SEEM
Iambic Dimeter
......1..............2.............3...............4
Ap PAR..|..elled IN..|..cel EST..|..ial LIGHT,
........1..............2.................3................4.................5
The GLOR..|..y AND..|..the FRESH..|..ness OF..|..a DREAM.
Iambic Tetrameter
Iambic Pentameter
..1.............2.............3.............4..................5
It IS..|..not NOW..|..as IT..|..hath BEEN..|..of YORE;
Iambic Pentameter
........1....................2.............3
Turn WHERE..|..so E'ER..|..I MAY,
Iambic Trimeter
.......1..............2
By NIGHT..|..or DAY,
ambic Dimeter
I
..........1...............2.................3................4................5..............6
The THINGS..|..which I..|..have SEEN..|..I NOW..|..can SEE..|..no MORE.
Iambic Hexameter
Anapestic Tetrameter
From "The Destruction of Sennacherib," by George Gordon Lord Byron
........1.......................2..........................3......................4
The As SYR..|..ian came DOWN..|..like the WOLF..|..on the FOLD,
........1.......................2..........................3....................4
And his CO..|..horts were GLEAM..|..ing in PUR..|..ple and GOLD;
.........1.........................2.............................3.......................4
And the SHEEN..|..of their SPEARS..|..was like STARS..|..on the
SEA
Trochaic Tetrameter
From "The Tyger," by William Blake
....1.............2...............3.................4
TY ger..|..TY ger..|..BURN ning..|..BRIGHT
....1...............2...............3............4
IN the..|..FOR..ests..|..OF the..|..NIGHT
Stanzas
Metric feet make up lines, which make up
stanzas
Number of lines
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Type of Stanza
couplet
tercet
quatrain
cinquain
sestet
septet
octet/ octave
x-line stanza
0
