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Poetic Meter

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Dactylic hexameter   Topic Aeneid
Dactylic hexameter (also known as "heroic hexameter") is a form of meter in poetry or a rhythmic scheme. It is traditionally associated with the quantitative meter of classical epic poetry in both Greek and Latin, and was consequently considered to be the Grand Style of classical poetry. The premier examples of its use are Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid. The meter consists of lines made from six ("hexa") feet. In strict dactylic hexameter, each of these feet would be dactyl, but...
Poetic Meter Iliad
Odyssey
Iambic trimeter   Topic  
Iambic trimeter is a meter consisting of three iamb units per line. In Ancient Greek, iambic trimeter was a quantitative meter in which a line consisted of three iambic metra; and each metron consisted of two iambi. It was found in the spoken verses of tragedy and comedy. In the accentual-syllabic verse of English, German, and other languages, iambic trimeter is a meter consisting of three iambs (disyllabic units with rising stress) per line. The iambic trimeter derives its name from its...
Poetic Meter
Iambic pentameter   Topic  
Iambic pentameter is a type of meter that is used in poetry and drama. It describes a particular rhythm that the words establish in each line. That rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables; these small groups of syllables are called 'feet'. The word 'iambic' describes the type of foot that is used. The word 'pentameter' indicates that a line has five of these 'feet'. Different languages express rhythm in different ways. In Ancient Greek and Latin, the rhythm is created through the...
Poetic Meter
Iambic heptameter   Topic  
Iambic heptameter is a poetic meter that has seven iambic metrical feet per line. e.g. "The rusty chains of prison moons are shattered by the sun" (from King Crimson's "In the Court of the Crimson King", words of P. Sinfield) Typical in iambic meter, the stress of the foot is placed on the second syllable, longer syllable, followed by an unstressed shorter syllable. This is one of the most uncommon iambic forms, alongside trimeter. The most famous example of iambic heptameter in execution...
Poetic Meter
Iambic tetrameter   Topic  
Iambic tetrameter is a meter in poetry. It refers to a line consisting of four iambic feet. The word "tetrameter" simply means that there are four feet in the line; iambic tetrameter is a line comprising four iamb. The term originally applied to the quantitative meter of Classical Greek poetry, in which an iamb consisted of a short syllable followed by a long syllable. See syllable weight. The term was adopted to describe the equivalent meter in accentual-syllabic verse, as composed in...
Poetic Meter
Alexandrine   Topic Les Fleurs du mal
An alexandrine is a line of poetic meter. Alexandrines are common in the German literature of the Baroque period and in French poetry of the early modern and modern periods. Drama in English often used alexandrines before Marlowe and Shakespeare, by whom it was supplanted by iambic pentameter (5-foot verse). In syllabic verse, such as that used in French literature, an alexandrine is a line of twelve syllables. Most commonly, the line is divided into two equal parts by a caesura between the...
Poetic Meter
Dactylic tetrameter   Topic  
Dactylic tetrameter is a metre in poetry. It refers to a line consisting of four dactylic feet. "Tetrameter" simply means four poetic feet. Each foot has a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables, the opposite of an anapest, sometimes called antidactylus to reflect this fact. A dactylic foot is one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones: A dactylic tetrameter would therefore be: Scanning this using an "x" to represent an unstressed syllable and a "/" to represent a...
Poetic Meter
Anapestic tetrameter   Topic  
Anapestic tetrameter is a poetic meter that has four anapestic metrical feet per line. Each foot has two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. It is sometimes referred to as a "reverse dactyl," and shares the rapid, driving pace of the dactyl. Anapestic tetrameter is a traditional rhythm for comic verse, and prominent examples include Clement Clarke Moore's 'Twas the night before Christmas, Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark, and Dr. Seuss' Yertle the Turtle and The Cat...
Poetic Meter
Trochaic tetrameter   Topic  
Trochaic tetrameter is a meter in poetry. It refers to a line of four trochaic feet. The word "tetrameter" simply means that the poem has four trochee. A trochee is a long syllable, or stressed syllable, followed by a short, or unstressed, one. For English-speakers, two of the best-known examples are Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha and the Finnish Kalevala. This can be demonstrated in the following famous excerpt from "Hiawatha's Childhood", where the accented syllables of...
Poetic Meter
Trochaic octameter   Topic The Raven
Trochaic octameter is a poetic meter that has eight trochaic metrical feet per line. Each foot has one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Trochaic octameter is a rarely used meter. The best known work in trochaic octameter is Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven," which utilizes five lines of trochaic octameter followed by a "short" half line (in reality, 7 beats) that, by the end of the poem, takes on the qualities of a refrain. Because of the length of the line, trochaic...
Poetic Meter
Elegiac couplet   Topic Heroides
Elegiac couplets are a poetic form used by Greek lyric poets for a variety of themes usually of smaller scale than those of epic poetry. The ancient Romans frequently used elegiac couplets in love poetry, as in Ovid's Amores. As with heroic couplets, the couplets are usually self-contained and express a complete idea. Elegiac couplets consist of alternating lines of dactylic hexameter and pentameter: two dactyls followed by a long syllable, a caesura, then two more dactyls followed by a long...
Poetic Verse Form
Poetic Meter