Understanding Poetry Meter and Verse Types
Explore the various aspects of poetry meter and verse types including stress or accent, accentual verse, syllabic meter, and accentual-syllabic verse. Learn about stressed/accented syllables, rhythmical patterns, syllable counting, types of feet in poetry, and examples of different metrical structures.
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Stress or Accent (Beat) A stressed or accented syllable is uttered in a higher pitch or with greater emphasis than the other syllables around it.
Accentual Verse or Accentual Meter The rhythmical pattern is determined by the number of stressed/accented syllables (beats) in each line. The total number of syllables per line varies. The accents or stresses are measured. "Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man," By Mother Goose Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man, Bake me a cake, as fast as you can; Pat it, prick it, and mark it with B, Put it in the oven for baby and me. Source: The Dorling Kindersley Book of Nursery Rhymes (2000)
Another Example of Accentual Verse / . . . /. . . . / . . ./ Star light, Star bright, (4 syllables) . / . . . /. . . . . / . . ./ First star I see tonight (6 syllables) .. . / . . . /. . .. . . . / . . . ./ I wish I may, I wish I might (8 syllables) . . / . . . . . /. . . . . . / .. .. ./ Have the wish I wish tonight (7 syllables)
Syllabic Meter or Syllabic Verse In this line of poetry, the number of syllables is measured, but the number of stresses varies. Examples: *Dylan Thomas Poem in October *Thomas Nashe In Time of Plague (Adieu, farewell, earth s bliss) *Haiku
Accentual-Syllabic Verse or Meter Determined by the number and alternation of stressed & unstressed syllables which are organized into feet. The total number of syllables in a line is fixed or set. Syllables and Stresses are both measured. from William Wordsworth's Daffodils For oft, / when on/ my couch / I lie In va/cant or/ in pen/sive mood, They flash / upon / that in/ward eye Which is/ the bliss / of sol/itude; And then / my heart / with plea/sure fills, And dan/ces with / the daf/fodils. This is iambic (da DUM) tetrameter (line of 4 feet). Also, each line has eight syllables.
Types of Feet iamb: 2 syllables; first unstressed, second stressed da DUM (iambic) unite provide trochee: 2 syllables; first stressed, second unstressed DUM da (trochaic) garden highway spondee: 2 syllables; both stressed (a bit rare) DUM DUM (spondaic) hog-wild downtown dactyl: 3 syllables; first stressed, second & third unstressed DUM da da (dactylic) poetry basketball anapest: 3 syllables; first & second unstressed, third stressed da da DUM (anapestic) underfoot overcome
IAMB da DUM two syllables, first unstressed, second stressed Example of iamb from Shakespeare s Sonnet 18: So LONG / as MEN / can BREATHE / or EYES / can SEE, So LONG / lives THIS / and THIS / gives LIFE / to THEE.
TROCHEE DUM da two syllables, first stressed, second unstressed Example of trochee from William Shakespeare s Macbeth: DOU-ble, / DOU-ble / TOIL and / TROU-ble; FI-re / BURN, and / CAL-dron / BUB-ble.
DACTYL DUM da da three syllables, first stressed, last two unstressed Example of dactyl (and spondee) from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow s Evangeline DIS-tant, se-CLUD-ed, still, THE lit-tle VIL-lage of GRAND-PRE WEST and south, THERE were fields, OF flax and OR-chards and CORN-FIELDS (four dactyls and one spondee)
ANAPEST da da DUM three syllables, first two unstressed, last one stressed Example of anapest from Edgar Allan Poe s Annabel Lee For the MOON/ never BEAMS,/ without BRING/ing me DREAMS/ Of the BEAU/tiful ANN/abel LEE;/ And the STARS/ never RISE,/ but I FEEL/ the bright EYES/ Of the BEAU/tiful ANN/abel LEE;/ Two more types of feet: cretic: DUM da DUM three syllables; 1. stressed, 2. unstressed, 3. stressed pyrrhic: da da two syllables, both unstressed
Types of Meter monometer: 1 foot in the line of poetry dimeter: 2 feet in the line of poetry trimeter: 3 feet an iambic hexameter is called ALEXANDRINE da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM tetrameter: 4 feet pentameter: 5 feet hexameter: 6 feet (most often dactylic feet) heptameter: 7 feet octameter: 8 feet
Monometer (one beat per line) Fleas Adam Had em.
Dimeter (two beats) The Bridge of Sighs Thomas Hood Take her up tenderly, Lift her with care, Fashioned so slenderly, Young and so fair.
Trimeter (three beats) The Tower W.B. Yeats It is time that I wrote my will; I choose upstanding men That climb the streams until The fountain leap, and at dawn Drop their cast at the side Of dripping stone; I declare They shall inherit my pride.
Tetrameter (four beats) Stopping by Woods Robert Frost Whose woods these are I think I know His house is in the village though, He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow.
Pentameter (five beats) Tithonus Alfred, Lord Tennyson The woods decay, the woods decay and fall, The vapours weep their burthens to the ground, Man comes and tills the soil and lies beneath, And after many a summer dies the swan.
Hexameter (six beats) The Lake Isle of Innisfree W.B. Yeats I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made.
YES by Muriel Rukeyser Some go local Some go express Some can't wait To answer yes. Some complain Of strain and stress Their answer may be No for Yes. Some like failure Some like success Some like Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Open your eyes, Dream but don't guess. Your biggest surprise Comes after Yes.
