The Rhythm of Poetry Syllable Poetic feet Meter

The Rhythm of Poetry: Syllable - Poetic feet - Meter

Why determine rhythm and meter? • Poetry is a musical art form. It depends for its impact on its rhythm as well as on its language. • Being able to describe the pattern of a poem’s meter can help us to analyze its meaning. • Sometimes, however, especially with more modern poetry, you will find that there is no clear dominant meter, that the poet has written the line as it would be spoken, in a more casual mix of syllables, a more conversational tone.

Syllables • English words have clear syllables. • We can usually divide words into syllables easily. • We can also determine which syllables to emphasize, or “stress” in each word. § For example: • Angel = AN-gel (not an-GEL) • Complete = com-PLETE (not COM-plete)

More Syllables • poem = PO-em……. (1 stressed + 1 unstressed) • poetry = PO-e-try……. (1 stressed + 2 unstressed) • relief = re-LIEF……. (1 unstressed + 1 stressed) • recommend = re-com-MEND……. (2 unstressed + 1 stressed) • discomfort = dis-COM-fort… (1 unstressed + 1 unstressed) • entertainment = en-ter-TAIN-ment (2 unstressed + 1 unstressed)

Scansion • (1) the act of scanning, or analyzing poetry in terms of its rhythmic components • (2) the graphic representation, indicated by marked accents, feet, etc. , of the rhythm of a line or lines of verse – You may have seen scansion marks like the following: The curved lines are “unstressed” syllables while the straight slashes are “stressed”

Poetic Meter • Meters are the rhythms within poems. • Meters are the arrangement of stressed/unstressed syllables to occur at apparently stressed equal intervals. • Metered verse has prescribed rules as to the number and placement of syllables used per line.

Poetic Foot • A poetic foot is a repeated sequence of rhythm comprised of two or more stressed and/or unstressed syllables. • Poetic meter is comprised of poetic feet

Five main patterns to poetic feet: 1. Iambic Relief 2. Trochaic Apple Anapestic 4. Dactylic 5. Spondaic 3. Introduce Broccoli Flip flop

Iambic pattern • 1 unstressed syllable followed by 1 stressed syllable • EXAMPLES: – repose (re-POSE) POSE – belief (be-LIEF) LIEF – complete (com-PLETE) PLETE

Trochaic Pattern • 1 stressed syllable followed by 1 unstressed syllable • EXAMPLES: – garland (GAR-land) – speaking (SPEAK-ing) – value (VAL-ue)

Anapestic pattern • 2 unstressed syllables followed by 1 stressed syllable • EXAMPLES: – on the road – interrupt (in-ter-RUPT) RUPT – unabridged, bridged contradict, dict engineer, eer masquerade, rade Galilee

Dactylic pattern • 1 stressed syllable followed by 2 unstressed syllables • EXAMPLE: – happiness (HAP-pi-ness) – galloping (GAL-lop-ing) – fortunate, Saturday, daffodil, murmuring, for Sat daf mur rhapsody rhap

Spondaic Pattern • All syllables have equal stress • EXAMPLE: – Heartbreak – “Out, out…” – "pen-knife, " "ad hoc, " "heartburn"

The Iambic foot • The iamb = (1 unstressed syllable + 1 stressed syllable) is the most common poetic foot in English verse. • iambic foot examples: – behold – destroy – the sun (articles such as “the” would be considered unstressed syllables) – and watch (conjunctions such as and would be considered unstressed syllables)

Lines containing iambic feet • Behold / and watch / the sun / destroy / and grow (5 iambs) • When I / do COUNT / the CLOCK / that TELLS / the TIME [Shakespeare’s Sonnet 12] (5 iambs) • Shall I / compare /thee to / a sum / mer's day? [Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18] (5 iambs) • Come live/ with me/ and be/ my love (4 iambs) (poem by Christopher Marlowe)

Trochaic poem: a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's “The Song of Hiawatha” By the / shores of / Gitche / Gumee, By the / shining / Big-Sea /-Water, Stood the / wigwam / of No / komis, Daughter / of the / Moon, No / komis. Dark behind it rose the forest, Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees, Rose the firs with cones upon them; Bright before' it beat the water, Beat the clear and sunny water, Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

Anapestic poetry: 2 unstressed syllables + 1 stressed one Limericks contain anapestic meter (in blue) A Limerick by Edward Lear: There was / an Old Man / with a beard, Who said, "It is just / as I feared! Two Owls / and a Hen, Four Larks / and a Wren, Have all / built their nests / in my beard!"

Dactylic poem: 1 stressed + 2 unstressed Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson Half a league, / half a league, Half a league / onward, All in the / valley of / Death Rode the / six hundred. "Forward, the / Light Brigade! Charge for the / guns!" he said: Into the / valley of / Death Rode the / six hundred.

Spondaic Poem: 2 equal syllables • Because of this nature of the spondee, a serious poem cannot be solely spondaic • It would be almost impossible to construct a poem entirely of stressed syllables • Therefore, the spondee usually occurs within a poem having another dominant rhythm scheme.

Combinations of Poetic Feet • • One foot per line: monometer Two feet per line : dimeter Three feet per line : trimeter Four feet per line : tetrameter Five feet per line : pentameter Six feet per line : hexameter Seven feet per line : heptameter Eight feet per line : octameter

Type + Number = Meter • • • Types of Poetic Feet Iambic (1 unstressed + 1 stressed) Trochaic (1 stressed + 1 unstressed) Anapestic Dactylic (1 stressed + 2 unstressed) Spondaic (all syllables equal) (2 unstressed + 1 stressed) Number of feet per line • • • Monometer Dimeter Trimeter Tetrameter Pentameter Hexameter

Meters & Feet • Q: If a poem had 1 foot per line, line and the foot was iambic (1 unstressed + 1 stressed), what type of poem would it be? • A: Iambic monometer

Meters & Feet • Q: If a poem had 2 feet per line, line and the foot was iambic (1 unstressed + 1 stressed), what type of poem would it be? • A: Iambic dimeter

Meters & Feet • Q: If a poem had 3 feet per line, line and the foot was iambic (1 unstressed + 1 stressed), what type of poem would it be? • A: Iambic trimeter

Meters & Feet • Q: If a poem had 4 feet per line, line and the foot was iambic (1 unstressed + 1 stressed), what type of poem would it be? • A: Iambic tetrameter

Meters & Feet • Q: If a poem had 5 feet per line, line and the foot was iambic (1 unstressed + 1 stressed), what type of poem would it be? • A: Iambic pentameter

Meters & Feet • Q: If a poem had 3 feet per line, line and the foot was trochaic (1 stressed +1 unstressed), what type of poem would it be? • A: Trochaic tetrameter

Review Trochee trips from long to short. From long to long in solemn sort. Slow Spondee stalks, strong foot!, yea ill-able. Ever to keep up with Dactyl's trisyllable. Iambics march from short to long, With a leap and a bound the swift Anapests throng. • • • iambtrochee spondee dactyl anapest / /// /---/ "be. COME" "PRU frock" "LONG DAY" "SYLL ab le" "in ter FERE"

Practice Scansion 1. Since in a net I seek to hold the wind 1 2. Best of all, victory! 2 3 3. I bought a car today. 4. Look for hidden pitfalls 4 5 5. In the cool, of the night 6. ‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house 6 7. Biggie 7 Can’t you see sometimes your words just hypnotize me

Practice The following pattern in a line is an example of which meter? -/-/-/ 1. iambic tetrameter 2. trochaic tetrameter 3. dactyllic pentameter 4. iambic pentameter 5. trochaic pentameter 6. anapestic tetrameter 7. anapestic pentameter 8. dactyllic tetrameter

The following line is an example of which meter? The curfew tolls the knell of parting day 1. iambic tetrameter 2. iambic pentameter 3. trochaic tetrameter 4. dactyllic pentameter 5. trochaic pentameter 6. anapestic tetrameter 7. anapestic pentameter 8. dactyllic tetrameter

The following lines exemplify which predominant meter? Nor law nor duty bade me fight, Nor public men, nor cheering crowds. A lonely impulse of delight Drove to this tumult in the clouds. 1. iambic tetrameter 2. iambic pentameter 3. trochaic tetrameter 4. dactyllic pentameter 5. trochaic pentameter 6. anapestic tetrameter 7. anapestic pentameter 8. dactyllic tetrameter

The following lines are predominantly in which meter? Go, and catch a falling star, Get with child a mandrake root, Tell me, where all past years are. . . 1. iambic tetrameter 2. iambic pentameter 3. trochaic tetrameter 4. trochaic pentameter 5. anapestic pentameter 6. anapestic tetrameter 7. dactyllic pentameter 8. dactyllic tetrameter

The following lines are an example of which meter? But I hung on like death. Such waltzing was not easy. 1. iambic tetrameter 2. iambic pentameter 3. trochaic tetrameter 4. trochaic pentameter 5. trochaic trimeter 6. iambic trimeter

couplet turn quatrain Sonnet 18 Shakespearean or Elizabethan Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, em l And summer’s lease hath all too short a date. ob r p Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, ift h s Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, n So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. it o u l so Unrequited First two quatrains: QUESTION/PROBLEM Third quatrain: TURN (change or shift in attitude/thought) Couplet: RESOLUTION/ANSWER

Showing Rhyme Scheme “Sonnet 65” by William Shakespeare • Use the alphabet to show rhyme scheme. Give every rhyme the same letter. Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea, 1. A 2. But sad mortality o'er-sways their power, 3. A 3. How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, 4. B 4. Whose action is no stronger than a flower? 5. C 5. O, how shall summer's honey breath hold out 6. D 6. Against the wreckful siege of battering days, 7. C 7. When rocks impregnable are not so stout, 8. D 8. Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decays? 9. E 9. O fearful meditation! where, alack, 10. F 10. Shall Time's best jewel from Time's chest lie hid? 11. E 11. Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back? 12. F 12. Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid? 13. G 13. O, none, unless this miracle have might, 14. G 14. That in black ink my love may still shine bright. 1. If you were given the question, “What is the rhyme scheme of this poem and is it regular or irregular? ” you’re answer would look like this: • The rhyme scheme of this poem is ABABCDCDEFEFGG. It is a regular rhyme scheme because the first and third line of each quatrain rhyme, as do the second and fourth. The final couplet also rhymes.

Poetic Devices • Alliteration = the repeating of the same or very similar consonant sounds usually at the beginnings of words that are close together – Examples: Betty Botta bought some butter. “But, ” said she, “this butter’s bitter. ” • Allusion = a reference to a person, place, event, or thing from history, literature, sports, religion, mythology, politics, etc. to make a point – Example: “I had a terrible game today. I shot like Shaq. ” This is an allusion because if the listener knows who Shaq is and how poorly he shoots free throws, then the listener will know just how bad the speaker is. • Assonance = the repeating of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds in words that are close together – Example: An abbot on an ambling pad…. • Consonance = the repeating of final consonants after different vowel sounds in words that are close together – Examples: East and west dug the dog… • Caesura = pause in lines of poetry II – “I hear lake water lapping || with low sounds by the shore…” • Couplet = two adjacent lines of poetry that rhyme • Quatrain = a group of four lines unified by rhyme scheme • Repetition = the repeating of any words, phrases, or sounds • Rhyme – End Rhyme = the repeating of similar vowel sounds at the ends of lines • Example: I don’t think I will ever see A sight as lovely as a tree. – Internal Rhyme = the repeating of similar vowel sounds within lines • Examples: The cat in the hat sure got fat off mice and rice.

More Practice (at home!) http: //prosody. lib. virginia. edu/

Quiz 1. Name the five metrical patterns. 2. Which metrical pattern has a stressed (/) and unstressed (U)? 3. Which metrical pattern is unstressed (U) stressed (/) 4. Which metrical pattern is unstressed (U) stressed (/)? 5. Which metrical pattern is stressed (/) unstressed (U)? 6. What is the metrical pattern of a spondee? 7. How many lines are in a sonnet?

Quiz cont. 8. What is a common theme of Shakespearean sonnets? 9. What is the rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet? 10. What is a “turn” in a sonnet? 11. How many lines are in a quatrain? 12. How do you determine rhyme scheme? 13. How many feet make up a tetrameter? 14. What is a “caesura”? 15. How many feet are in the following line of poetry? Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?