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
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   Document URL: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/meter.html
   Last modified: Wednesday, 18-Jul-2007 16:27:43 EDT

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