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Meter ( Bristish spelling: metre) describes

the linguistic sound patterns of a verse. Scansion is the analysis of poetry's metrical

and rhythmic patterns. Prosody is sometimes used to describe poetic

meter, and indicates the analysis of similar aspects of language in linguistics.

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General Poetry Terms

The traditional definition of poetry is any written composition that is deliberately separated into lines. Therefore, the line is one of the poet’s most powerful tools in developing meaning.

Linear patterns that occur in the line are found primarily in how the line ends. Linear pattern looks at whether the line is end-stopped or enjambed (referred to as enjambment).

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Lines

An end-stopped line ends with hard punctuation,

typically a period, comma, dash or semi-colon. from “A Poison Tree”

I was angry with my friend:I told my wrath, my wrath did end.I was angry with my foe:I told it not, my wrath did grow.--William Blake

Enjambed lines break the phrase and often contain internal punctuation.

from “Annabell Lee”It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea, that a maiden there lived whom you may know by the name of ANNABEL LEE;---- Edgar Allan Poe

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Linear Patterns

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Rhyme

From “To the City of Bombay”

The Cities are full of pride,Challenging each to each --This from her mountain-side,That from her burthened beach.

They count their ships full tale --Their corn and oil and wine,Derrick and loom and bale,And rampart's gun-flecked line;City by City they hail:"Hast aught to match with mine?“

And the men that breed from themThey traffic up and down,But cling to their cities' hemAs a child to their mother's gown.

-- Rudyard Kipling

ABAB

CDCDCD

EFEF

The metrical “feet” in the classical languages

were based on the length of time taken to pronounce each syllable, which were categorized according to their weight as either "long" syllables or "short" syllables (also known as "heavy" and "light" syllables, respectively, to distinguish from long and short vowels).

Meter in poetry is typically described by identifying the dominant type of foot and the number of feet per line (e.g. iambic pentameter).

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Meter

Stanza Stanza: two or more

lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem.

The stanzas of a poem are usually of the same length and follow the same pattern of meter and rhyme, creating a stanzaic pattern.

While there are often lines separating stanzas, this is not always the case. Sometimes rhyme patterns are helpful in determining stanza breaks in a poem without stanza breaks.

NAME# of LINES per stanza

Couplet 2 lines

Tercet 3 lines

Quatrain 4 lines

Cinquain 5 lines

Sestet 6 lines

Septet 7 lines

Octave 8 linesRehrig, LTHS

Foot: One stressed syllable plus the

unstressed syllable(s) that go with it

Repetitions of feet patterns creates rhythm

Feet are notated with:

/ = Stressed Syllable

= Unstressed Syllable

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Feet

Turn or Shift: a shifting of focus, either in

topic or tone, within a poem

Refrain: repetition of a line or lines within a poem. In musical lyrics, we call the refrain that chorus.

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Other Basic Terminology

Generally, the form of a poem

involves the way it is visually arranged on the page. The number of stanzas, rhyme scheme, traditional pattern (if any), spacing, refrain, stanzaic breaks, and other such qualities can give

important clues to the overall meaning of the poem.

Stanza: a group of lines set apart from the rest of the poem by white space above and below

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Forms

A narrative poem that is characterized by

repetition and often by a repeated refrain (recurrent phrase or series of phrases).

Ballads were originally meant to be sung. In its usual form, the ballad stanza consists of a

quatrain with four beats in the first and third lines (iambic tetrameter) and three beats in the second and fourth which also rhyme (iambic trimeter).

Traditional ballad are narrative and include:

Death, love, revenge, dialogue, pagan references, nature and the supernatural.

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Ballad

SONNET 1

FROM fairest creatures we desire increase,

That thereby beauty's rose might never die,

But as the riper should by time decease,

His tender heir might bear his memory:

But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,

Feed'st thy light'st flame with self-substantial fuel,

Making a famine where abundance lies,

Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.

Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament

And only herald to the gaudy spring,

Within thine own bud buriest thy content

And, tender churl, makest waste in niggarding.

Pity the world, or else this glutton be,

To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.

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Feet

FOOT NOUN ADJECTIVE

/ Iamb Iambic

/ Anapest Anapestic

/ Trochee Trochaic

/ Dactyl Dactylic

/ / Spondee Spondaic

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Ta – DAH

La – Ti – DAH

DOH - Tee

DOH – Tee – Doh

DOH - DOH

i – AM

an - uh - PEST

TRO - kay

DAK – til - ick

SPON - DAY

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Scanning a line

Scan for the number of feet in the line:

Let’s go to the store and buy some more.

/ / / /

/ / /

| | |

Feet per LineFEET PER

LINEPREFIX NAME

1 Mono Monometer

2 Di Dimeter

3 Tri Trimeter

4 Tetra Tetrameter

5 Penta Pentameter

6 Hex Hexameter

7 Hep Heptameter

8 Oct Octameter

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Peter, Peter pumpkin-eater

Had a wife and couldn't keep her.

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What meter is this?Peter, Peter pumpkin-eaterHad a wife and couldn't keep her.

trochee

Peter, / Peter / pumpkin- / eater

Had a / wife and / couldn't /

keep her.

tetrameter

trochaic tetrameter

/

/

/

/

//

/ /

What meter is this?The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold

anapestic tetrameter

tetrameterThe Assyr / ian came down / like a wolf / on the fold

And his co / horts were gleam / ing in pur / ple and gold

anapestThe Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold

And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold

////

////

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What meter is this?Picture your self in a boat on a river with tangerine tree-ees and marmalade skii-es.

dactyl

tetrameter

dactylic tetrameter

Picture your self in a boat on a river with

tangerine tree-ees and marmalade skii-ii-es.

Picture your / self in a / boat on a / river with

tangerine / tree-ees and / marmalade / skii-ii-es.

/ /

// /

//

/

What meter is this?It is an ancyent Marinere,

And he stoppeth one of three:

"By thy long grey beard and thy glittering eye

"Now wherefore stoppest me?

It is / an anc / yent Mar / in ere,

And he stopp / eth one / of three:

"By thy long / grey beard / and thy glitt / er ing eye

"Now where / fore stopp / est me?

Line 1: iambic tetrameter

Line 2: foot 1 = anapestic; feet 2 & 3 = iambic# of feet = trimeter

Line 3: feet 1, 3, & 4 = anapestic

foot 2 = iambic# of feet =

tetrameteranapestic

tetrameter

Line 4: iambic trimeter

• Alternating lines of tetrameter create an ebb & flow akin to wavelike motion of the ocean fitting for a poem set in the sea.

• The added anapests can lead to a sing-gong effect, almost like an old, pirate drinking song.

T-title: The meaning of the title without reference to the poem.

P-paraphrase: Put the poem, line by line, in your own words.

C-connotation: looking for deeper meaning. Diction and symbolism Imagery Metaphors and similes Rhyme scheme End rhymes and internal rhymes End stop Enjambment Alliteration Assonance Consonance Mood Allusions Punctuation Personification

A-attitude: Looking for the author’s tone. How is the writer speaking?

S-shifts: Looking for shifts in tone, action, and rhythm. Discuss how the shift(s) affects the poem.

T-title: reevaluate the title as it pertains to the poem T-theme: What does the poem mean? How does it relate to

life?

TPCAS

TT

Iambic Pentameter

/ / / / /

From fair est creat

ures we des ire in

crease

/ / / / /

That there by beauty’

s rosemigh

t nev er die

/ / / / /

But as the rip ershoul

d in time decrea

se

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Meters

Iambic pentameter (Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus; Edna St. Vincent Millay,

Sonnets) Dactylic hexameter (Homer, Illiad; Virgil, Aenead, Ovid, "

The Metamorphoses") Iambic tetrameter (Alexander Pope; Andrew Marvell, "

To His Coy Mistress") Iambic heptameter (Robert Louis Stevenson)

Trochaic octameter (Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven") Anapestic tetrameter (Lewis Carroll, "The Hunting of the

Snark"; Lord Byron, Don Juan) Trochaic tetrameter (many hymns)