Poetry Meter

Syllables, meter, and feet

Reading and labeling a poem for sounds, stresses, and pauses is

called scanning the poem.

Meter

• Meter is a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

Feet

• Poetic lines are divided into segments called a foot (or feet plural).

• A foot contains a series of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Consider the Following

• Darth Vader decided to crush the rebel soldier.

• DARTH VAder deCIDed to CRUSH the REBel SOLDier.

• Luke Skywalker will rebel against his father’s wishes.

• LUKE SKYWALKer WILL reBEL aGAINST his FATHer’s WISHes.

Feet and Syllables

• The divisions marked with / represent feet.

• A stressed syllable is marked by a ‘

• An unstressed syllable is marked by a U

• U ‘ U ‘ U ‘ U ‘

• Along / the sea- / sands damp / and brown

Feet and Syllables

• Usually, poets put stresses on the natural stresses of a word.

• For example:

‘ U ‘ ‘ U ‘

orange pretend dog along

Feet and Syllables

• Usually, insignificant words like conjunctions and prepositions do not receive poetic stresses.

Syllables• Iamb (Iambic) U ‘

• Trochee (Trochaic) ‘ U

• Spondee (Spondaic) ‘ ‘

• Anapest (Anapestic) U U ‘

• Dactyl (Dactylic) ‘ U U

Meter• Monometer One foot per line

• Dimeter Two feet per line

• Trimeter Three feet per line

• Tetrameter Four feet per line

• Pentameter Five feet per line

• Hexameter Six feet per line

• Heptameter Seven feet per line

• Octameter Eight feet per line

Meter

• Meter is determined by the type of foot and the number of feet in a line.

• Thus, a line with three iambic feet is known as iambic trimeter.

Meter

• So, this line by Longfellow…

• U ‘ U ‘ U ‘ U ‘

• Along / the sea- / sands damp / and brown

• would be considered generally iambic tetrameter (the poetic feet are iambs and there are four feet in this line.

Meter

• Remember, not all lines of a poem will have exactly the same number of syllables. You may have a ‘left over’ stressed or unstressed syllable.

Meter

• Likewise, not every line in a stanza will have the same number of feet per line.

Meter

• However, after scanning a poem for all syllables and feet, you look back over the entire poem and count how many syllables and feet you have.

• Then, you make a general statement on the overall meter, like ‘this poem is generally in iambic pentameter’ or mainly ‘this poem is trochaic tetrameter.’

• Learn the stresses and meters, scan the poem, collaborate with others, and look back over the entire poem. Then, make a general statement as to the overall meter.

SOAPStone + Theme

Poetic analysis.

Yup Yup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1MxGFncZgQ

1. Read it entirely.2. Look up words. 3. Scan the poem for syllables, feet, and meter.

All right stop collaborate and listen Ice is back with my brand new invention Something grabs a hold of me tightly Flow like a harpoon daily and nightly

Will it ever stop yo I don't know Turn off the lights and I'll glow To the extreme I rock a mic like a vandal Light up a stage and wax a chump like a candle Dance go rush to the speaker that booms

Speaker

•Speaker: vocalist; MC; dancer; songwriter

•Subject (think about the 80s!)

•Title – his name, but also…•Braggadocio!

Occasion• Identification! •A jaunty performer taunts his competition and dares to match his vocal skills against others.

Audience

• sucker MCs

PurposeThe speaker brags about his songwriting ability. He goes to a party, then leaves. In his car, he waves to girls as he goes to another party. This party later gets out-of-hand: people start shooting pistols. He leaves again. Speaker resumes braggadocio.

Style (literary elements)

•“Flow like a harpoon…”

•“Turn off the lights and I’ll glow”

•“I rock the mic like a vandal”

•“…the speaker that BOOMS…”

Tone

•swag

Analyze “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”

•Use the SOAPStone + THEME method to understand poem.

•Working in groups, discuss and write down analysis.