iam/iambic
A foot made up of a unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
trochee/trochaic
A foot made up of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.
dactyl/dactylic
A foot made up of a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.
anapest/anapestic
A foot made up of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable
Spondee/Spondaic
A foot made up of two stressed syllables.
pyrrhic
A foot made up of two unstressed syllables
1 feet per line
monometer
2 feet per line
dimeter
3 feet per line
trimeter
4 feet per line
tetrameter
5 feet per line
pentameter
6 feet per line
hexameter
7 feet per line
heptameter
8 feet per line
octameter
Naming a meter
Dominant foot + number of feet per line
ex: iambic pentameter
trochaic tetrameter
Rhythm
regular recurrence of the accent or stress in poem or song. Pulse or beat we feel in line of poetry.
caesuras
break or pause between words in a metrical foot
meter
measured or patterned count of a poetic line.
foot
unit of measure consisting of stressed and unstressed syllables (iambic, trochaic, anapestic, dactylic, etc.)
duple
double meters (iambic, trochaic, two syllables per foot)
triple
three syllable meters (anapestic, dactylic meters) Three syllables per foot
rising meters
anapestic and iambic
falling meters
trochaic and dactylic
substitute feet
spondaic and pyrrhic
free verse
verse without a fixed metrical pattern
scansion process
Mark stresses in poem, work out meter from distribution of stresses in poem