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Metrics
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Metrics
Thank you for visiting the Web site of the University of Minnesota, Morris, one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. We're happy to make
available this material on metrics, originally prepared and posted by our fourth chancellor, Dr. Samuel Schuman, on October 8, 1997.
Click here to start
Table of Contents
Metrics in English Poetry_
Metrics
How to go about the analysis of the rhythm, the meter and the rhyme scheme of an English poem.__To move forward, press "page down," the space bar, or the
mouse clicker; to move backwards, press "page up."
A Stupid Poem
First, divide the lines into syllables, and count them:
Which syllables are accented or "stressed?"
u / u / u / u /
Notice the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables:
The smallest unit (always 2 or 3 syllables) of repeated patterned stress is called a "poetic foot." Here, the first foot is "I put" the second "my hat" and
so on.
_In this idiotic poem, the lines are made up of alternating numbers of "feet:" Line 1 has 4 feet, line 2 has 3 feet, line 3 has 4 feet, and line 4 has 3
feet.
Here, I've indicated the "feet:"
Types of Poetic Feet
Types of Poetic Lines_(Number of Feet)
So...for example, "trochaic tetrameter" is a line with 4 feet (8 syllables) with a pattern of stress-unstress in each foot:__ / u * / u
* / u * / u_Lovely Morris fig
ures rebates
and, "iambic pentameter" means five feet (10 syllables) with each foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable:
Most of Shakespeare's verse is "iambic pentameter."__What is the form of the "stupid poem" we have been examining?
____ u / u / u / u /_I put * my hat * upon * my head_ u / u / u
/_And walked * into * the strand_ u
/ u / u / u /_And there * I met *anoth*er man_ u / u / u /_Whose hat * was in * his hand.
ANSWER:
And now, for something easier--
The sound of the last syllable of every line is assigned a letter, beginning with "a"
Stanzas
Some of these historically important stanza forms in English poetry are:
Couplets
Example of a COUPLET
Heroic Couplet
Example of an HEROIC COUPLET
Quatrains
Ballad Stanza
A serious example of BALLAD STANZA
The Sonnet
An Italian Sonnet
A Shakespearean Sonnet
Blank Verse
Some other stanzaic forms
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Author: Dr. Samuel Schuman
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