NameP o e t r y

Understanding Meter in Poetry

Rhythminpoetryiscreatedbythestressesoraccentsinthewordsofthepoem.Forexample,in
wordsthathavemorethanonesyllable,oneofthesyllablesisusuallypronouncedmorestronglythan
theothers.Forexample,inthewordbasketball,thefirstsyllableispronounced
morestrongly:BASketball.Wordsthatcontainonlyonesyllablemightnormally
bestressed,ortheymightnot.UsuallylittlewordslikeandandIandtheare
notstressed.Butsinglesyllableverbslikelikeorplayusuallyarestressed.The
bestwaytofigureoutwhichwordsorsyllablesinawordarestressedistoreadthe
linealoud.Inthelinebelow,thestressedsyllableshavebeencapitalized,andthe
unstressedsyllablesarelowercase.

ILIKEtoPLAYBASketball

Therhythmthatiscreatedbycombiningstressedandunstressedsyllablesinaline
ofpoetryiscalledmeter.Afootisthegroupofstressedandunstressedsyllables
thatmakeupthemeterofapoem.Nowlookatthesamplelineagain.Thistime,
verticallineshavebeenplacedinthelinebetweeneachfoot.Therearethreefeet
inthislineofpoetry.

ILIKE|toPLAY|BASketball

Poemscanhaveanynumberoffeetintheirlines,butusuallyeachlinehasthesamenumberoffeet.

EXERCISEIDENTIFYINGFEET

Drawlinesbetweenthefeetinthelinesofpoetry,likeintheexampleabove,andthenwriteonthe
blankhowmanyfeetareineachline.

1.S i l l y S a l l y a t e a p u m p k i n .

2.J o n a t h o n r o d e o n a b i c y c l e .

3.M y m o t h e r a t e a p i e c e o f p i e .

4.Askandyeshallreceive.

5.Ilikecotton,Ilikecandy.

6.Firstistheworst,lastisthebest.

CCSS. RL.4.5 | http://www.englishworksheetsland.com