Question regarding poetry structure ... Metrical feet

[Cate]

Hi does anyone have a good understanding of metrical feet and an ability to explain it in simple terms?
I learn well with concrete examples – da da dAH is not doing it for me.

I understand it’s a way of measuring syllables …

I see examples like this- da da DAH da da DAH
which I think means short syllable – short syllable – long syllable but I might be wrong, (to be honest I’m a little shaky on what a short and long syllable is– please don’t tell my grade 6 English teacher).

Not being able to understand this has become a source of frustration for me, any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Cate

[Davido]

It's better to think of it in terms of stressed and unstressed syllables rather than long and short syllables.
(btw If you've any problem counting syllables,then speak the line out loud like a Dalek !)
The term 'meter' (from Greek, meaning 'measure')refers to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poetic line.
In English poetry, meter is determined by the number of stresses per line, and usually a poem written in metrical verse will keep to a basic, identifiable pattern.
The metrical foot is the basic unit of meter. The most common metrical feet and their patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables are:
iamb: X /
trochee: / X
anapest: X X /
dactyl: / X X
spondee: / /
pyrrhic: X X
(/ indicates a stressed syllable, and X indicates an unstressed syllable).
The meter of a poem is determined by the metrical foot, and by the number of feet per line in the poem. The following terms indicate the number of feet per line:
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
A poem written in iambic meter, with five feet per line, would be called iambic pentameter.
Shakespeare’s sonnets are written predominantly in this meter (iambic pentameter), a rhyme scheme in which each sonnet line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs (called iambs or iambic feet).
eg When I / do COUNT / the CLOCK / that TELLS / the TIME (Sonnet 12)

When IN / dis GRACE / with FOR / tune AND / men’s EYES
I ALL / a LONE / be WEEP / my OUT/ cast STATE (Sonnet 29)

Shall I / com PARE/ thee TO / a SUM / mer’s DAY?
Thou ART / more LOVE / ly AND / more TEM / per ATE (Sonnet 18)
Any clearer?

[secretchord]

a line of poetry (unless it's free verse) is made up of feet, each of which has two syllables.

feet are named according to the stress pattern (i.e.) the emphasis that is given to each syllable , 'stressed/un-tressed', 'unstressed/stressed' etc. As I recall (and I may be wrong as it was many years ago!) an unstressed/stressed foot is called an iamb and the classic Shakespearean blank verse is written in 'iambic pentameter' as it has five iambs in each line

aye but to die and go we know not where
to lie in cold obstruction and to rot


or something like that



okay,so davido was quicker (and more detailed)

[Cate]

Hi Thanks very much Davido and secretchord - Yes - much clearer.
Both of your examples were very good.

So if it tells me that the line should be a trimeter anapest the line would look like this

XX/ XX/ XX/

I'm not going to get hung up on stressed or unstressed symbols - it looks like there's no hard and fast rule for that it just happens naturally and you would hear if it didn't fit.

iamb: X /
trochee: / X
anapest: X X /
dactyl: / X X
spondee: / /
pyrrhic: X X

So each one of these is an example of on metrical foot - right?

I think this was part of my confusion - I didn't realize there were different types of metrical feet and seemed like different information sources were contradicting each other.

One last question - If they didn't tell you which type of metrical unit to use, would you assume iamb?

Again, thank you very much!

Cate

[Manna]

There are official rules about it that I don't get, so I tend to go with my gut, and I've had plenty of arguments. To me, if you take any line, and walk while you're saying it, and try to walk steadily to it, the places where you put your foot down are the stressed syllables of the feet. It's easier if you think of it like dancing and music. You can have 4 notes to feet, or one. Sometimes you have to play hopscotch.

More modern approaches to rhythm in poetry use "natural speaking" to determine which syllables are stressed. There are also inverted rhythms (female vs. male).

For instance, I would have stressed secretchord's lines thusly:

aye but to die and go we know not where
to lie in cold obstruction and to rot

It's a minor difference, but one that screws up one of the iambs. I think an iamb is a 2-syllable "foot" while more syllables around the stressed one have different names.

Triams:
There once was a man in Nantucket...
But I may be completely wrong. I understand rhythm (though I tend to be an evil free-verser) and I've not yet really had a need for the vocabulary.

[Cate]

Triams:
There once was a man in Nantucket...
But I may be completely wrong. I understand rhythm (though I tend to be an evil free-verser) and I've not yet really had a need for the vocabulary.

He he - my latest frustration with this started because I wanted to write some lymricks with the kids.

I'd imagine you'd have a good natural sense of rhythm and meter from playing the banjo. I prefer freestyle too, I just want an understanding of the basics.

Cate