Poetic Meter Meter Patterns of stressed and unstressed

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 / / / 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 / / / / 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, dactylic hexameter: Longfellow, Evangeline / / Picture your self in a boat on a river with / / tangerine tree-ees and marmalade skii-ii-es. 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 - From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. -- E. A. Poe

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

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 1. Count & number the syllables in a poetic line. 2. Find words that are poly/multisyllabic (more than one). 3. 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 Blake, “The Tyger” Tyger, tyger, burning bright In the forests of the night

Blake, “The Tyger” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Tyger, tyger, burning bright 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 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 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 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 1. Number the syllables 2. Decide if the poetic foot is two or three syllables 3. 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.

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

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

/ 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 onward 1. Number the syllables 2. Decide if the poetic foot is two or three syllables 3. 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)