In poetry, feet are segments of stressed and unstressed syllables that, when used properly, create rhythmic sounds

in each line of a
poem. Poetic feet are combined with meter, the number of feet per line, to create the overall line length, but it is the feet that
determine the placement or pattern of syllables. There are four main types of poetic feet, as well as two supplementary forms.

Anapestic
Anapestic feet consist of three syllables: two unstressed and one stressed. With a sound reminiscent of a horse's galloping,
"intervene" and "interrupt" both follow this three-syllable pattern.

Dactylic
Like anapestic feet, dactylic feet are made of three syllables; however, dactylic feet have one stressed syllable followed by two
unstressed syllables. This pattern is found in words such as "absently" and "daffodil."

Iambic
An iambic foot, very musical in its rhythm, is made up of one unstressed and one stressed syllable. The word "employ" is an
example of an iambic foot because the second syllable receives the accent. Sonnets often make use of this syllabic pattern.

Trochaic
A trochaic foot occurs when one stressed syllable precedes one unstressed syllable. The words "lover," "railroad" and "singer" are
examples. Edgar Allen Poe used trochaic feet in his poem, "The Raven."

Supplementary Forms
There are two kinds of supplementary poetic feet: spondaic, created from two stressed syllables, and pyrrhic, which is made of
two unstressed syllables. Neither of these feet are used exclusively, as it would be difficult to write or read a poem written
entirely in stressed or unstressed syllables. These feet, therefore, are only used to add variety to lines of poetry.

Poetic Feet and Line Length

Summary:
A brief exploration of the various aspects of sound that can be utilized when making a poem. The crafting of
the aural aspects of a poem is what we may call "ear training." Thus, the crafting of the visual aspects is
what we'd call "eye training."
Contributors:Sean M. Conrey
Last Edited: 2013-04-03 11:23:53

Poetic Feet
There are two parts to the term iambic pentameter. The first part refers to the type of poetic
foot being used predominantly in the line. A poetic foot is a basic repeated sequence of meter
composed of two or more accented or unaccented syllables. In the case of an iambic foot, the
sequence is "unaccented, accented". There are other types of poetic feet commonly found in English
language poetry.

The primary feet are referred to using these terms (an example word from Fussell's examples is given
next to them):
  Iambic: destroy (unaccented/accented)
 Anapestic: intervene (unaccented/unaccented/accented)
 Trochaic: topsy (accented/unaccented)
 Dactylic: merrily (accented/unaccented/unaccented)

The substitutive feet (feet not used as primary, instead used to supplement and vary a primary foot)
are referred to using these terms:

 Spondaic: hum drum (accented/accented)

 Pyrrhic: the sea/ son of/ mists (the "son of" in the middle being unaccented/unaccented)

The second part of defining iambic pentameter has to do with line length.

Line Length
The poetic foot then shows the placement of accented and unaccented syllables. But the second part
of the term, pentameter, shows the number of feet per line. In the case of pentameter, there are
basically five feet per line.

The types of line lengths are as follows:

 One foot: Monometer
 Two feet: Dimeter
 Three feet: Trimeter
 Four feet: Tetrameter
 Five feet: Pentameter
 Six feet: Hexameter
 Seven feet: Heptameter
 Eight feet: Octameter

Rarely is a line of a poem longer than eight feet seen in English language poetry (the poet C.K.
Williams is an exception).

Line length and poetic feet are most easily seen in more formal verse. The example above from D.G.
Rossetti is pretty obviously iambic pentameter. And Rossetti uses an accentual-syllabic meter to
flesh out his poem with quite a bit of success. What most free verse poets find more useful than this
strict form is accentual meter, where the accents only are counted in the line (although when scanned,
the syllables are still marked off...it is just that their number is not of as much import.)

Take this free-verse example from James Merrill:

Free-verse James Merrill Poem

Things to note about this poem:

There is no any "set" meter in this poem, but the meter clearly plays a key role in its effectiveness. In
particular it is worth noting the line that stands alone (line 7). Notice that Merrill moves toward iambic
pentameter in line 6 and then sustains it through line 7. Here there is an inversion from the typical
set-meter/variation sequence that is found in a lot of more formal poetry. Here the variation comes in
the move into set meter, rather than varying from a set meter.

Just like establishing a visual pattern in a poem, establishing a meter creates expectations in your
reader. Consequently, as with pattern, to vary that meter is to create emphasis. Some will say that
your ear should be the first judge on these matters rather than your eye (looking at the scanned
poem). There is probably some truth to this. Many poets will tell you that you should always read a
poem out loud several times every time you get a draft done. If it doesn't sound good every time,
there might be something that isn't working. This is where scanning the poem might come in handy;
dissecting the lines and sculpting them until they sound better.

Poetry has a lot of moving parts. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re
starting to explore poetic analysis. Poetic foot and meter are a great place to
start. Once you have these basics down, the rest becomes a lot easier.
A poetic foot is a unit of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of
poetry. Poetic meter refers to the number of feet used in each line.
Poetic Feet
Poetic feet are based on the number of syllables in each foot. Two of the most
common feet in English poetry are the iamb and the trochee. Both are made
up of just two syllables. Iamb is pronounced like I am, and trochee rhymes
with pokey. The difference between them lies in which syllables are stressed.
In an iamb, the first syllable is unstressed and the second is stressed. It
sounds like da-DUM. Think of the word display. In a trochee, you stress the
first syllable and unstress the second (so DUM-da), as in the name Adam.
There are also poetic feet that have three syllables. The two most common
three-syllable poetic feet are the anapest and the dactyl. In an anapest, the
first two syllables are unstressed and the final syllable of the foot is stressed
(da-da-DUM). An example is the word overcome. A dactyl is the opposite, with
the first syllable stressed and the other two unstressed. So, DUM-da-da.
Poetic Meter
Poetic meter is based on how many poetic feet are in each line. The names of
poetic meters use Greek prefixes to show how many feet are in each line. For
instance, a poem with four poetic feet per line is written in tetrameter (the
Greek word tetra means four).
Clement Moore’s “The Night Before Christmas” is written with four anapests
per line. So it’s written in anapestic tetrameter: “‘Twas
the night before Christmas and all through the house / Not a creature
was stirring, not even a mouse.”
Iambic Pentameter
The most common poetic meter in English poetry is iambic pentameter, which
uses five iambs per line. One of the main places you’ll see it is in the
sonnet. Sonnets consist of 14 lines following a very specific rhyme scheme.
Much of William Shakespeare’s work is written in iambic pentameter. Blank
verse is the name for poems that are written in iambic pentameter but have no
rhyme scheme.
Iambic meter reflects the natural cadence of the English language, where
stressed and unstressed syllables often alternate. Because of this, the work of
Shakespeare and others who write in iambic pentameter feels both natural
and lyrical at the same time. A good example is the beginning of the famous
balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet: “But soft!
what light through yonder window breaks? / It is the east,
and Juliet is the sun.”

Rhythm and Meter in English Poetry

English poetry employs five basic rhythms of varying stressed (/) and unstressed (x)
syllables. The meters are iambs, trochees, spondees, anapests and dactyls. In this
document the stressed syllables are marked in boldface type rather than the tradition al
"/" and "x." Each unit of rhythm is called a "foot" of poetry.
The meters with two-syllable feet are

 IAMBIC (x /) : That time of year thou mayst in me behold
 TROCHAIC (/ x): Tell me not in mournful numbers
 SPONDAIC (/ /): Break, break, break/ On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!

Meters with three-syllable feet are

 ANAPESTIC (x x /): And the sound of a voice that is still

 DACTYLIC (/ x x): This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and
the hemlock (a trochee replaces the final dactyl)

Each line of a poem contains a certain number of feet of iambs, trochees, spondees,
dactyls or anapests. A line of one foot is a monometer, 2 feet is a dimeter, and so
on--trimeter (3), tetrameter (4), pentameter (5), hexameter (6), heptameter (7), and
o ctameter (8). The number of syllables in a line varies therefore according to the
meter. A good example of trochaic monometer, for example, is this poem entitled
"Fleas":
Adam
Had'em.

Here are some more serious examples of the various meters.

iambic pentameter (5 iambs, 10 syllables)

 That time | of year | thou mayst | in me | behold

trochaic tetrameter (4 trochees, 8 syllables)

 Tell me | not in | mournful | numbers

anapestic trimeter (3 anapests, 9 syllables)

 And the sound | of a voice | that is still

dactylic hexameter (6 dactyls, 17 syllables; a trochee replaces the last dactyl)

 This is the | forest pri | meval, the | murmuring | pine and the | hemlocks
FOOT

A measurable, patterned unit of poetic rhythm. The concept of the f. has been
imported into modern accentual-syllabic prosedy from classical quantitative practice,
and disagreement over the nature (and even the "existence") of the f. has been
traditional since the late Renaissance. The Eng. f. is customarily defined by the
orthodox as a measure of rhythm consisting of 1 accented (stressed, "long") syllable
(or 2, as m the spondee) and 1 or more unaccented (unstressed, "short," "slack")
syllables. The poetic line in a more or less regular composition, say the traditional
prosodists, consists of a number of feet from 1 to 8; conventionally, the feet are to
be roughly of the same kind, although metrical variations (q.v.), produced by the
occasional "substitution" of different feet, are permissible so long as these
substitutions do not efface for long the repeated pattern of the prevailing f.

In traditional Eng. accentual or accentual-syllabic verse the following feet are the
most common:
iamb (iambic) x / (as in "destroy")
anapest (anapestic) x x / ("intervene")
trochee (trochaic) / x ("topsy")
dactyl (dactylic) / x x ("merrily")
spondee (spondaic) / / ("amen")
pyrrhic x x ("the sea | son of | mists")

What are these accents? Look here.

Iambic and anapestic feet are called ascending or rising feet; trochaic and dactylic,
descending or falling. Feet of 2 syllables are called duple feet; feet of 3, triple.
Spondaic (except in sprung rhythm, q.v.) and pyrrhic feet are generally "substitute
feet. Some prosodists recognize also a monosyllabic f. con- sisting of I stressed
syllable. The exemplification of these feet by single words, above, of course distorts
their nature: it is important to remember that f. divisions do not necessarily correspond
to word divisions, and that the structure of a f. is determined contextually by the
nature of the feet which surround it.

The f. bears a close resemblance to the musical bar: both are arbitrary and abstract
units of measure which do not necessarily coincide with the phrasal units which they
underlie. The major difference between them is that the bar always begins with a
"stress."
It is perhaps unfortunate that the terminology of feet is borrowed from classical
quantitative prosody, where practice is in general much more regular than in most
Eng. verse and where "substitutions" are largely governed by rule rather than by whim
or instinct. The Greek and Latin poets included feet such as:
amphibrach x / x
bacchius x / /
molossus / / /
tribrach x x x

Foot
Definition of Foot
The literary device “foot” is a measuring unit in poetry, which is made up of
stressed and unstressed syllables. The stressed syllable is generally indicated
by a vertical line ( | ), whereas the unstressed syllable is represented by a
cross ( X ). The combination of feet creates meter in poetry. Later, these
meters are joined for the composition of a complete poem. Therefore, a foot is
the formative unit of the meter.

In poetry, there are various types of foot, each of which sounds differently.
Some of the basic types of foot are given below:

 Iamb: Combination of unstressed and stressed syllable – (daDUM)

 Trochee: Combination of stressed and unstressed syllables – (DUMda)
 Spondee: Combination of two stressed syllables – (DUMDUM)
 Anapest: Combination of two unstressed and a stressed syllable –
(dadaDUM)
 Dactyl: Combination of stressed and two unstressed syllables –
(DUMdada)
 Amphibrach: Combination of unstressed, stressed and unstressed
syllable – (daDUMda)
 Pyrrhic: Combination of two unstressed syllables – (dada)

There are two types of meter, which are known as rising meter

and falling meter. Each type of meter uses a different type of foot. As the
rising meters go from unstressed syllables to stressed ones, they mainly use
iamb and anapest feet. On the contrary, the falling meters go from stressed
syllables to unstressed ones, and mostly use trochee and dactyl feet.

Examples of Foot in Literature

Example #1: Twelfth Night (By William Shakespeare)

“If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall;
O, it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound.”

This stanza is taken from William Shakespeare’s well known play, Twelfth

Night. It has been composed in iambic pentameter. To make it easy to
understand the unstressed and stressed combination of syllables, the
stressed syllables are given in bold font.

Example #2: King Lear (By William Shakespeare)

“And my poor fool is hang’d! No, no, no life!

Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou’lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!
Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.
Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,
Look there, look there …!”

This is yet another extract from Shakespeare’s another great play, King Lear.
It is an appropriate example of trochaic pentameter. This has the combination
of a stressed and unstressed syllable pattern – a pattern opposite to iambic.

Example #3: The Destruction of Sennacherib (By Lord Byron)

“The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,

And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown, …
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast …
And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still!”

This is a selection from Lord Byron’s poem, The Destruction of Sennacherib. It

is one of the best examples of anapestic pattern of foot. In particular, it follows
a tetrameter pattern, which consists of four anapests in a line. In this
selection, anapests have been made bold. This entire poem follows the similar
pattern. In each foot, two syllables are unstressed, while the third syllable is
stressed.

Example #4: The 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.”

These lines have been taken from Lord Alfred Tennyson’s well known
poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade. It is an excellent example of the of
use dactyl pentameter. The dactyl follows a pattern of stressed, unstressed,
and again unstressed syllables. As it is an elegiac poem, it uses dactyl
pentameter, which suits elegies. The meter in this verse functions like a
building block and provides a regular rhythm.

Function of Foot
The function of foot is to provide the basic structure for the meter in a verse.
As it is based on the combination of either two or three syllables, this
combination creates musical rhythm. Therefore, it is the use of feet that brings
rhythm to poetry – the reason that poetry is differentiated from prose. Without
the repetition of a particular foot in a verse, poetry would be no different from
prose, as the important elements of rhythm and musical quality will be missing
in the absence of feet.

Haiku
Definition of Haiku
A haiku poem has three lines, where the first and last lines have five moras,
and the middle line has seven. The pattern in this Japanese genre is 5-7-5.
The mora is another name for a sound unit, which is like a syllable, though
there is a difference. As the moras cannot be translated into English, they are
modified, and syllables are used instead. The lines of such poems
rarely rhyme with each other.

Haiku became popular as tanka poems in Japan during the 9th and 12th
centuries. Initially, it was called “hokku” and Basho, Buson, and Issa were the
first three masters of the haiku genre. Haiku poetry is also full of metaphors
and personifications. However, this has often been argued against, since
haikus are supposed to be written on objective experiences, rather
than subjective ones. In English, several experiments were made in this genre
as given below.

“Autumn moonlight—
a worm digs silently
into the chestnut.”

(Autumn Moonlight, by Basho)

Features of Haiku
 It contains three lines.
 It has five moras (syllables) in the first line, seven in the second, and
five in the last line.
 It contains 17 syllables in total.
 A Haiku poem does not rhyme.
 Haiku poems frequently have a kigo, or seasonal reference.
 Haiku poems are usually about nature or natural phenomena.
 The poem has two juxtaposed subjects that are divided into two
contrasting parts.
 In English, this division between two parts can be shown by a colon or a
dash.

Examples of Haiku in Literature

Example #1: Old Pond (By Basho)

Old pond
a frog jumps
the sound of water

In this example, we can clearly see two contrasting parts of the poem; one is
about a frog that is jumping, and second is about the sound of water. The
syllable pattern is also following a 5-7-5 format.
Example #2: Book of Haikus (By Jack Kerouac)

Snow in my shoe—
Abandoned
Sparrow’s nest

This haiku is presenting an image in the first part of “snow in my shoe.” In

addition, there are two contrasting ideas that mingle with one another as the
second part is about nature. The pattern of syllables is 5-7-5. The poet has
tried to present a little story in this haiku.

Example #3: Dust of Summers (By Multiple Poets)

Calling home—
the color of mother’s voice
before her words

(By Hilary Tann)

Twilight…
his voice
deep purple

(By Ludmila Balabanova)

In these haikus, figurative device such as metaphors have been used to

present an insight of the world. Through this technique, multiple senses are
used to gather sensory information.

Example #4: Thirds (By Jeffrey Winke)

Song birds
at the train yard’s edge
two cars coupling

Personification is also a definite trait of haiku poetry. This is to assign a

human quality or qualities to nonhuman things, though this is less prevalent in
haiku as compared to metaphors. In this poem, personification is very well
done, hence allowing the poem to speak for itself.
Example #5: To a Leg of Heron (By Basho)

To a leg of a heron
Adding a long shank
Of a pheasant.

The theme of this poem is to laugh at ones self. This is a perfect example of

haiku poetry, as it is perfectly following the pattern of syllable counts. It is also
giving an amusing and ironic touch, since reality is the major aspect of this
form of poetry.

Example #6: Selected Haiku (By Nick Virgilio)

Lily:
out of the water…
out of itself

Bass
Picking bugs
off the moon

Nick Virgilio is an American poet who is a great supporter of Japanese haiku.

He has written 5-7-5 syllable-style poems when translated in Japanese. These
examples of haiku poems are natural, mystical, and refined.

Function of Haiku
Haikus are short poems written on topics and things that the readers can
identify with easily. For example, seasons and animals are readily
recognizable topics to readers. Generally, haiku is written for realistic and
objective reasons; however, haikus are also written for children. Sometimes it
presents two juxtaposed ideas to express meanings through
internal comparison.

Meter
The rhythmical pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse.
The predominant meter in English poetry is accentual-syllabic. See also
accentual meter,  syllabic meter, and quantitative meter.  Falling
meter refers to trochees and dactyls (i.e., a stressed syllable followed by
one or two unstressed syllables). Iambs and anapests(i.e., one or two
unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one) are called rising meter.
Examples of Meter in Poetry
7th grade8th grade9th gradeMiddle SchoolHigh SchoolCollege

Meter is a unit of rhythm in poetry, the pattern of the beats. It is also called a foot. Each foot
has a certain number of syllables in it, usually two or three syllables. The difference in types
of meter is which syllables are accented and which are not. 

Iamb Meter
Iamb meter has the first syllable unaccented and the second accented. Here are examples:
 That time l of year l thou mayst l in me l behold 
Shall I l com pare l thee to l a sum l mer’s day? - Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18"
 Come live | with me | and be | my love
And we | will all | the plea|sures prove - Christopher Marlowe’s “Come live with me and be my love”
 All I could see from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood; - Edna St. Vincent Millay’s "Renascence"
 To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells - John Keats’ “To Autumn”

Trochee Meter
Trochee meter has the first syllable accented and the second unaccented. Here are
examples:
 Tell me | not in l mournful l numbers 
By the | shores of | Gitche | Gumee,
By the | shining | Big-Sea-|Water - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Song of Hiawatha”
 (I could) wait forever, Face a thousand lifetimes, Ponder your embraces, Just to live
in your time.
Why so pale and wan, fond Lover?
Prithee why so pale?
Will, when looking well can't move her,
Looking ill prevail?
Prithee why so pale? - Sir John Suckling's "Song"
 The Grizzly Bear is huge and wild;
He has devoured an infant child.
The infant child is not aware
It has been eaten by the bear. - A. E. Housman’s “Infant Innocence” 
 Earth, receive an honoured guest;
William Yeats is laid to rest:
Let this Irish vessel lie
Emptied of its poetry. - W. H. Auden's "In Memory of W. B. Yeats"

Dactyl Meter
Dactyl meter has the first syllable accented and the second and third unaccented. Here are
examples:
 This is the forest pri meval, the murmuring pines and the hemlock - Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Evangeline”
 Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd; - Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade”
 We that had Loved him so, Followed him Honoured him, - Robert Browning’s “The
Lost Leader”
 Half a league, half a league
Half a league onward, - Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade”
 Just for a handful of silver he left us
Just for a riband to stick in his coat - Robert Browning's “The Lost Leader”

Anapest Meter
Anapest meter has the first two syllables unaccented and the third syllable accented. Here
are examples:
 And the sound l of a voice l that is still 
The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold Lord Byron’s “The Destruction of Sennacherib”
 In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
In the midst of his laughter and glee, 
He had softly and suddenly vanished away—
For the Snark was a Boojum, you see. Lewis Carroll, “The Hunting of the Snark”
 Oh, Potter, you rotter, oh, what have you done,
You’re killing off students, you think it’s good fun. - Peeves’s Song from Harry Potter
 His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad - Harry’s valentine from Harry Potter
 And the sheen| of their spears | was like stars | on the sea, - Lord Byron’s “The
Destruction of Sennacherib”
 From the centre all round to the sea,
I am lord of the fowl and the brute. - Will Cowper's "Verses Supposed To Be Written By Alexander
Selkirk, During His Solitary Abode In The Island Of San Fernandez" 
Now you've learned a lot about the types of meter in poetry. For more examples check
out Examples of Iambic Pentameter.

Meter
Definition of Meter
Meter is a stressed and unstressed syllabic pattern in a verse, or within the
lines of a poem. Stressed syllables tend to be longer, and unstressed shorter.
In simple language, meter is a poetic device that serves as a linguistic sound
pattern for the verses, as it gives poetry a rhythmical and melodious sound.
For instance, if you read a poem aloud, and it produces regular sound
patterns, then this poem would be a metered or measured poem. The study of
different types of versification and meters is known as “prosody.”

Meter and Foot

A meter contains a sequence of several feet, where each foot has a number
of syllables such as stressed/unstressed. Hence, a meter has an overall
rhythmic pattern in a line of verse, which a foot cannot describe.

Types of Meter
English poetry employs five basic meters, including:

1. Iambic meter (unstressed/stressed)

2. Trochaic meter (stressed/unstressed)
3. Spondaic meter, (stressed/stressed)
4. Anapestic meter (unstressed/unstressed/ stressed)
5. Dactylic meter (stressed/unstressed/unstressed)

Meter has two subdivisions: qualitative meter, and quantitative meter.

Qualitative Meter

Qualitative meter contains stressed syllables with regular intervals, such as

iambic pentametercontaining even numbered syllables.

Quantitative Meter

Quantitative meter, however, is based on syllabic weight, and not stressed

pattern,s such as dactylic hexameters of classical Greek and classical Latin.
However, classical Arabic and Sanskrit also have used this meter. Poets like
Virgil used quantitative meter in Aeneid, and Homer used it in Iliad.

Short Examples of Meter

1. People become what they believe.
(Trochaic meter)
2. Those who can dream it, they really can achieve it.
(Dactylic/Spondaic)
3. Don’t search faults. Find remedies.
(Iambic meter)
4. When you give and accept gratefully, you feel blessed.
(Anapestic meter)
5. The safest place on planet earth.
(Iambic meter)
6. Be happy, be positive, be you.
(Spondaic meter)
7. Life is short to hold grudges.
(Trochaic meter)
8. If you know why to live, then you can tolerate anything.
(Dactylic meter)
9. All the news here is ready to print.
(Trochaic meter)
10. Because you’re worth it.
(Iambic meter)
11. Bell lion not in doleful manner.
(Trochaic meter)
12. And they found some mice alive still.
(Anapestic meter)
13. Tough minds do shake the conscience of the week.
(Iambic meter)
14. The kids have gone, for they have left the nest.
(Iambic tetrameter)
15. He knows she will and you can tell.
(Iambic tetrameter)

Meter Examples in Literature

Example #1: Twelfth Night (By William Shakespeare)

“If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:
O, it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound,
That breathes upon a bank of violets …”

This is an example of iambic pentameter, which contains an unstressed

syllable first, and a stressed syllable second. Shakespeare has played around
with iambic pentameter a lot to create different effects. Here you can see each
line consists of accented and unaccented syllables underlined.

Example #2: The Explosion (By Philip Larkin)

“Shadows pointed towards the pithead:
In the sun the slagheap slept.
Down the lane came men in pitboots
Coughing oath-edged talk and pipe-smoke
Shouldering off the freshened silence.”

This extract contains trochaic meter in which stressed syllables are

pronounced loudly. Larkin has written frequently in trochaic
(accented/unaccented) tetrameter with four trochees.

Example #3: The 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.”

This excerpt presents an example of dactylic meter that contains one

accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables.

Example #4: The Hunting of the Snark (By Lewis Carroll)

“Just the place for a Snark!” the Bellman cried,

As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair …
There was also a Beaver, that paced on the deck,
Or would sit making lace in the bow:

Here you can see Carroll has used different types of anapestic meter,
dimeter, trimeter, and tetrameter. This type of meter has two unaccented
syllables and a third accented syllable.

Example #5: Troilus and Cressida (By William Shakespeare)

Cry, cry! Troy burns, or else let Helen go.

Spondaic meter has two accented syllables. You can easily identify this type
of meter because it contains both stressed syllables: “Cry, cry! Troy burns.”

Example #6: An Autumn Visit (By Josie Whitehead)

“Autumn is wearing her bright golden crown

For this morning she’s coming to visit our town
And wind, her best friend, will be joining her too.
Will they have a nice day and just what will they do?”

This stanza has used a combination of iambic and anapestic meter.

In anapest, two unstressed syllables are followed by one stressed syllable,
which rhymes the lines and add music to them.

Example #7: Evangeline (By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

“Bent like a laboring oar, that toils in the surf of the ocean,

Bent, but not broken, by age was the form of the notary public;
Shocks of yellow hair, like the silken floss of the maize, hung
Over his shoulders; his forehead was high; and glasses with horn bows
Sat astride on his nose, with a look of wisdom supernal.”

This poem is written in dactylic hexameter, with six dactyls in each line. The
poet has combined dactylic hexameter with spondaic meter to give more
rhythmic and uplifting reading experience to readers.

Example #8: Trees (By Joyce Kilmer)

“I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest …
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair …”

Each line in this example is following iambic tetrameterical pattern. Notice the
very first line, in which the stress is placed on the second syllable “think,” but
not on “I.” In this poem, the poet emphasizes the comparison between a tree
and poem.

Example #9: Song (By William Blake)

“I love the jocund dance,
The softly breathing song,
Where innocent eyes do glance,
And where lisps the maiden’s tongue.
I love the oaken seat,
Beneath the oaken tree,
Where all the old villagers meet,
And laugh our sports to see.”

This is an example of iambic trimeter. There are three iambs and six syllables,
alternating three groups of unaccented and accented in each line.

Example #10: The Song of Hiawatha (By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

“Should you ask me, whence these stories?
Whence these legends and traditions,
With the odors of the forest,
With the dew and damp of meadows …
With their frequent repetitions,
And their wild reverberations,
As of thunder in the mountains?”

This unique poem has used trochaic meter as its major metrical foot, which is
clearly adding music to the verses.

Function of Meter
Though meter is a poetic device, playwrights as well as prose writers often
use it to heighten the dramatic quality of the work, adding enchantment,
mystery and emotion to their language. If you look carefully, you will notice
metrical feet are not only suitable in poetry, but also in plays to achieve
dramatic purposes. However, its basic function is to provide rhythm and
uniformity, and to give a rounded and well-formed structure to the poetic work.
Meter makes the tone of a language more lyrical. When a situation requires
heightened language, the poets use meter for artistic effect. Besides, a meter
has importance and value to the readers, which could, however, be lost if
paraphrased or translated.

Poetry: Tone and Theme

Posted on February 11, 2013

English 9 – Poetry: Tone and Theme (worksheet)

Examples:
River Snow by Liu Zongyuan
My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke
The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop
The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden

Tone

First, define tone:            Depressing but Inspiring.

Look at the tone and atmosphere of the poem.

●      The tone of the poem reflects the attitude of the poet towards the subject matter. Brainstorm
some words which accurately describe the tone of this poem.

Pale.still,hard,father,captain,rise,bells,won,prize,fallen,cold,dead

●      The mood and atmosphere of the poem refer to the general feeling or emotion of the poem
which is created by the poet’s tone, and the language, imagery and sound of the poem.

●      What is the atmosphere in this poem? How does the poem appeal to the emotions and senses of
the reader?

The atmosphere in the poem is inspiring and depressing, it makes people be inspired but then
depressed
●      What is the tone or attitude of the poet? What words reveal this feeling? Is the language of the
poem directed squarely at the reader or is it more descriptive, impersonal or philosophical?

The attitude is very sad, the words are fallen, cold, dead, closed, done.

●      Is the speaker involved or detached (uninvolved, unemotional?) How does she/he seem to feel
about her/his subject matter? Is the speaker serious or joking, ironic or straightforward, condemning,
approving or dispassionate, lighthearted or depressed, loving or angry?

The language is descriptive

●      Does the tone change as the poem progresses? Is the tone mixed? For instance, is the speaker at
once sad and apprehensive, happy and nostalgic, loving and angry?

Yes, at first it starts inspiring and then it becomes depressing

Theme

First, define theme: Abraham Lincon

There are often two levels of meaning to consider:

1      The literal, surface subject of the poem – often an event, a situation, a person, an experience, an
observation, a story, or a description.

2      The underlying meaning or theme of the poem, which is usually more abstract – an idea, a
feeling or belief.

●      What is the poet’s purpose? What is the poet’s message? Who is speaking? Whose feelings and
points of view are being expressed? Who is being addressed? How do you know?

Abraham Lincoln is being addressed by the people in the north

●      Are there any characters that need to be considered? This may be relevant if the poem deals
with a story (eg ballad, epic) or a particular person whose motivations need to be recognised in order
to understand the poem’s full meaning.
The captain

●      What is the poem saying about the human experience, motivation, or condition? What subject
or subjects does the poem address? What do you learn about those subjects? What idea does the poet
want you take away with you concerning these subjects? Remember that the theme of any work of
literature is stated in a complete sentence.

To remember the captain and his accomplishments

●      What does the title add to your understanding of the poem?

That people looked at him as their captain.