2. Metre

In poetry, the metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse meter, or a certain set of meters alternating in a particular order.

Prosody is a more general linguistic term, that includes poetical metre but also the rhythmic aspects of prose, whether formal or informal.

The scansion of a poem is the analysis of its metrical structure.

Metre gives systematization of English verse and rhythm determined by the relationship between the stressed and unstressed syllables.

The unit of measure of rhythm is called the ‘foot’. It is the smallest recurring segment of the line, consisting of one stressed syllable and one or two unstressed ones.

The structure of the foot determines the metre, i.e. the type of poetic rhythm of the line. There are five basic feet in English poetry:

A. Trochee

The foot consists of two syllables, the first one is stressed.

 (duty, evening, honey, pretty)

B. Iambus

The foot consists of two syllables, the second one is stressed.

 (mistake, enjoy, again, behind)

C. Dactyl

The foot consists of three syllables, the first one is stressed, the subsequent two are unstressed.

 (wonderful, beautiful, certainly, dignity)

D. Amphibrach

The foot consists of three syllables, the first one is unstressed, the second one is stressed, the third one is unstressed.

 (returning, continue, pretending, umbrella)

E. Anapest

The foot consists of three syllables, the first two are unstressed, the third one is stressed.

 (understand, disagree, interfere)

Trochee

Men of England, wherefore plough

For the lords who lay ye low?

Wherefore weave with toil and care

The rich robes your tyrants wear?

(Shelley)

Amphibrach

I sprang to the stirrup and Joris and he,

I galloped, Dick galloped, we galloped all three.

(Browning)

Dactyl

Take her up tenderly,

Lift her with care,

Fashion’d so slenderly

Young and so fair.

(Hood)

Iambus

There went three kings into the east,

Three kings both great and high,

And they had sworn a solemn oath:

John Barleycorn should die.

(Burns)

Anapest

I am monarch of all I survey

From the central all round to the sea.

(Pope)

Questions to lecture #5

1. What are poetic stylistic devices based on?

2. What is euphony?

3. What is alliteration and consonance? Give your examples.

4. What is assonance? Give your examples.

5. What is sound symbolism? Give your examples.

6. What is the rhythm?

7. What is rhyme?

8. What is metre?

9. What is a more general linguistic term for “metre”?

10. How do you call the analysis of the metrical structure of a poem?

11. How do you call the smallest recurring segment of the line?

12. How many types of feet are there in the English poetry? Name them.

13. What is the type of feet in the following line?

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. (Alfred Tennyson, "Ulysses")

11. Do the task in Supplement 6.

12. Choose two poems from Supplement 6 and learn them by heart.

Lecture #6