Poetry Terms

Scansion … is the art of scanning a line or poem for meter and foot. In a structured poem, each line has a specific number of feet in a specific meter.

Meter A “stressed syllable” is a syllable that is emphasised in speech. It is represented, in scansion, by a forward slash (“ / ”). An “unstressed syllable” is spoken with less emphasis and it represented, in scansion, by a curved line (“ u ”).

Which syllable is emphasized? Meter (say, “MEE-ter”) /U Noah (say, NO-ah) /U Theresa (say, ta-REE-sa) U/U Doreece (say, do-REECE) U/ Emphasis (say, EM-fa-sis) /UU

You try… Identify the emphasis in your full name with capitals and U’s and slashes. For example: MS a-MI-ro / U / U

(Metric) Feet A foot is a pair or group of syllables that repeats itself. …like a pair of feet… walkin’ along…

Some standard feet… The iamb is a timeless classic. It’s suppose to best mimic natural speech. Shakespeare used it throughout his plays. One unstressed, followed by one stressed syllable.

The iamb U/

The anapest UU/ 2 unstressed folled by a stressed

The trochee [TRO-kee] /U One stressed followed by an unstressed.

The dactyl /UU One stressed followed by two unstressed.

Put foot and meter together…

Here are the first two lines of Romeo & Juliet: Two households, both alike in dignity In fair Verona, where we lay our scene. Copy them in your notes (double spaced). Identify which syllables of these words are stressed/ naturally emphasized.

What is the recurring foot? Iambic!

How many iambs are there? Five!

Naming the meter Monometer Dimeter Trimeter Tetrameter Pentameter Hexameter Heptameter Octameter

So… five feet of iamb …is called… IAMBIC PENTAMETER YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Limerick A limerick is a short comical poem with an aabba rhyme scheme. Limericks traditionally have 5 lines: two lines of anapestic trimeter followed by two lines of anapestic dimeter and conclude with one more line of anapestic trimeter.

Limerick How would it look if you scanned it? Write it out in symbols in your notes. UU/UU/UU/ UU/UU/