The Basics of Poetic Meter
1. The Poetic Foot
A poetic foot is the fundamental unit of measurement. The four most common types of feet in English poetry are:
- Iamb (da-DUM): One unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
- Example: “be-long“
- Trochee (DUM-da): One stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.
- Example: “hob-bit”
- Anapest (da-da-DUM): Two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable.
- Example: “com-pre-hend“
- Dactyl (DUM-da-da): One stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.
- Example: “buf-fa-lo”
2. Metrical Length
The “length” of a line’s meter is determined by how many times a poetic foot repeats in a single line. Common names include:
- Monometer: 1 foot
- Dimeter: 2 feet
- Trimeter: 3 feet
- Tetrameter: 4 feet
- Pentameter: 5 feet
- Hexameter: 6 feet
3. Naming the Meter
To name a poem’s meter, you combine the name of the foot with the length prefix.
- Iambic Pentameter: Lines made of 5 iambs (10 total syllables). It is the most common meter in English literature and is famous for its use in Shakespeare’s sonnets and plays.
- Example: “Shall I com-pare thee to a sum-mer’s day?”
- Trochaic Tetrameter: Lines made of 4 trochees. Famous for its relentless, hypnotic bounce in poems like Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven.
- Example: “Once up-on a mid-night drear-y, while I pon-dered weak and wear-y”
To dive deeper into the rhythmic foundations of English poetry and learn about scansion (the act of marking metrical feet), check out the Poetry Foundation Glossary.