1. Scansion AN INTRODUCTION TO SCANSION IN POETRY

2. What is scansion?  Scansion is a quick look at a poem to determine its structural elements and break down its rhythm using visual clues  Structural elements include: rhyme, rhythm, and meter  Other things we can for are: literary devices and figurative language

3. Structure vs Literary Devices Structural Elements  Rhythm: the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry  Meter: the number of feet in a line of poetry  Rhyme: the pattern of sounds at the ends of lines of poetry that sound the same and create a musical quality to the poem Literary Devices  Similes (using “like” or “as”) and Metaphors (not using those words) to compare  Imagery: creating an image with the written word using descriptive details  Alliteration: repeated use of the same consonant sound  Symbolism: the use of one object to subtextually represent another  Parallelism: lines having parallel structure  Personification: giving an inanimate object human-like characteristics

4. Common Feet used in Poetry (^) denotes unstressed syllable, (/) denotes stressed  Iamb (^/) unstressed followed by a stressed syllable  trochee (/^) stressed followed by an unstressed syllable  Anapest (^^/) two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one  Dactyl (/^^) stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones  Spondee (//) two stressed syllables back to back

5. How to Scan…Step One  First see if you can identify a rhyme scheme: ABAB, AABB, etc.  Look at the words at the ends of each line and see if any rhyme  Ex: I started on my homework but my pen ran out of ink. My hamster ate my homework. My computer’s on the blink. Notice how lines 1 and 3 both rhyme as well as lines 2 and 4. The rhyme scheme for this stanza would be: ABAB

6. Step Two: Determine Rhythm  Now count how many syllables are in each line to determine if there is a pattern that establishes some kind of Rhythm.  Ex: “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks (10 syllables) “Tis the east and Juliet is the sun” (10 syllables) Since each line is made up of 10 syllables, this is written in iambs.

7. Step Three: Determine Meter  Take the same lines as before and determine where the stressed and unstressed syllables are. Then count how many “feet” of syllables are present.  Ex: ^ / ^ / ^ / ^ / ^ / “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? ^ / ^ / ^ / ^ / ^ / “Tis the east and Juliet is the sun.” We can see that each line has 5 feet each containing an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. Thus this is written in iambic pentameter.

8. Step Four: Finding Literary Devices and Figurative Language  Now scan through the poem to identify any possible use of simile, metaphor, personification, parallelism, or any others from the list and use them to help you with the analysis of the poem on the second read-through. This aids in drawing your attention to possible “hot spots” in the poem where important emphasis on theme or interpretation can be found.  That’s it! Now Happy Scanning…