Poetic Meter

Meter: Patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables The basic unit of meter is a foot. A foot is a unit of meter that consists of a combination of two or more stressed or unstressed syllables. When analyzing poetry, a stressed syllable is marked as (/) and an unstressed syllable is marked as ( or ^). Most common feet in English poetry: Iamb  / Dactyl /   Trochee /  Spondee / / Anapest   / Note that these feet contain either 2 or 3 syllables

 / Iambic  /  /   /  / I asked my mo·ther for fif·ty cents  /  /   /  / I asked my mo·ther for fif·ty cents  /  /  / x /  / To see the el·e·phant jump the fence /  /  /  / He jumped so high, he touched the sky  /  /  /   /   / And he did not come back ‘til the Fourth of Ju·ly

Trochaic /  (Tro-kay-ik) /  /  /  /  /  /  Pe·ter Pi·per picked a peck of pick·led pep·pers x /  /  /  /  /  /  If Pe·ter Pi·per picked a peck of pick·led pep·pers /  /  /  /  Where’s the peck of pick·led pep·pers  /  /  / (iambic) That Pe·ter Pi·per picked?

Anapestic   / Edward Lear There was an old man in a tree  /   /   / There was an old man in a tree  /   /   / Who was hor·rib·ly bored by a bee   /   / When they said, "Does it buzz?“   /   / He re·plied, "Yes, it does!   /   /   / It's a reg·u·lar brute of a bee!" Edward Lear

/   Dactylic (po·e·try) /   /   /   /   /   /  This is the forest prim·eval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, /   /   /   /   Picture your self in a boat on a river with /   /   /   /   tangerine tree-ees and marmalade skii-ii-es. dactylic hexameter: Longfellow, Evangeline Dactylic tetrameter ¾ time: The Beatles, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds “

Spondaic / / (Rarely an entire line of poetry) / / /   / See Saw, Margery Daw / / / / I scream. You scream. /  /  /  We all scream for ice cream From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells -  From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. -- E.A. Poe

Metrical Lines One foot monometer Two feet dimeter Three feet trimeter Four feet tetrameter Five feet pentameter (iambic pentameter) Six feet hexameter (dactylic hexameter) Seven feet heptameter Eight feet octameter

Stanzas 2 line stanzas: couplets 3 line stanzas: tercets triplets: aaa bbb ccc ddd terza rima: aba bcb cdc ded 4 line stanzas: quatrains 5 line stanzas: quintets 6 line stanzas: sestets 7 line stanzas: septets 8 line stanzas: octaves

How do I figure out the meter of a poem?

Basic Background… Every word has syllables and particular emphasis when the word is pronounced Dictionary Example: emphasis = \ˈem(p)-fə-səs\ syllable = \ˈsi-lə-bəl\ In dictionaries, the ` symbol marks which syllable is stressed in a word’s pronunciation

3 Steps for Determining Poetic Meter in Poetic Lines Count & number the syllables in a poetic line. Find words that are poly/multisyllabic (more than one). Check for patterns to determine the stress pattern Note: If necessary, you can use a dictionary to find out which syllable is stressed in particular poly/multisyllabic words

1). Number the syllables Tyger, tyger, burning bright Blake, “The Tyger” Tyger, tyger, burning bright In the forests of the night

Tyger, tyger, burning bright In the forests of the night Blake, “The Tyger” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Tyger, tyger, burning bright In the forests of the night

Tyger, tyger, burning bright In the forests of the night 2). Decide how many syllables belong in one poetic foot of the poem. Tip: Look for multisyllabic words, noting where their syllables would be stressed. Blake, “The Tyger” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Tyger, tyger, burning bright In the forests of the night

Tyger, tyger, burning bright /  In the forests of the night Blake, “The Tyger” /  /  /  Tyger, tyger, burning bright /  In the forests of the night

Let’s check for patterns. The feet of this poem have 2 syllables (based on the multisyllabic words) The multisyllabic words all follow the structure of starting with a stressed followed by an unstressed syllable (What type is this?) In both lines of the poem, there are 7 syllables, which equals 4 separate feet. (What type of metrical line has 4 feet?) NOTE: When there’s an odd number, the last foot is considered catalectic, which means incomplete. It still counts as a foot.

So what do we have? Trochaic (Stress unstressed) Tetrameter (4 feet per line) /  /  /  / Tyger, | tyger, | burning | bright /  /  /  / In the | forests | of the | night

Example Line of Poetry # 2 And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea Number the syllables Decide if the poetic foot is two or three syllables Look for patterns; determine the stress pattern

Problems! 12 syllables are divisible by either 2 or 3, so how do we find out how many syllables are in one foot of this poem? There are no multisyllabic words to give us clues! STRATEGY: Test the pattern aloud.

Determine the poetic feet & where the syllables should be stressed And the | sheen of | their spears |was like| stars on| the sea| -OR- And the sheen | of their spears | was like stars | on the sea| Determine the poetic feet & where the syllables should be stressed

So, what is the type of foot? What is the type of metrical line?   / And the sheen | of their spears | was like stars | on the sea| So, what is the type of foot? What is the type of metrical line?

Unstressed, unstressed, stressed =   / And the sheen | of their spears | was like stars | on the sea| Unstressed, unstressed, stressed =  / anapestic 4 feet = tetrameter

Example Line of Poetry # 3 Half a league, half a league, half a league onward Number the syllables Decide if the poetic foot is two or three syllables Look for patterns; determine the stress pattern

Dactyl (/  ) Tetrameter /   Half a league, | half a league, | /   /  half a league | onward Note: Onward is incomplete, but is still a foot (catalectic)