1. What do you know about these terms? Discuss!
Meter and Rhythm
What do you know about these terms? Discuss!
Syllable – Stressed/Unstressed beats - Poetic feet - Poetic meter
Poetry Boot Camp Day 3

2. Syllables - complete / u angel English words have clear syllables.
We can usually divide words into syllables easily.
We can also determine which syllables to emphasize, or “stress” in each word.
For example:
Angel = AN-gel  (not an-GEL)
/ u
angel
Complete = com-PLETE  (not COM-plete)
u /
- complete

3. More Syllables poem = PO-em…….(1 stressed + 1 unstressed)
poetry = PO-e-try…….(1 stressed + 2 unstressed)
relief = re-LIEF……. (1 unstressed + 1 stressed)
recommend = re-com-MEND (2 unstressed + 1 stressed)
discomfort = dis-COM-fort… (1 unstressed + 1 stressed + 1 unstressed)
entertainment = en-ter-TAIN-ment (2 unstressed + 1 stressed + 1 unstressed)

4. A Helpful Hint…
Place your hand under your chin while reading the poem aloud. Your chin will naturally hit your hand on the stressed beats.
Darth Vader decided to crush the rebel soldier.
Luke will rebel against his father's wishes.
How do these sound differently?
Darth Vader decided to crush the reBEL soldier.
Luke will REbel against his father’s wishes.

5. Another Helpful Procedure
Demon Deacon Basketball
Break into the syllables and spell phonetically
dee | mun | deek | ahn | bask | it | bahl
2. Say it aloud or think about the sound a few times. Capitalize the syllables that seem to be stressed.
DEE | mun | DEEK | ahn | BASK | it | bahl
not
dee | MUN | deek | AHN | bask | IT | bahl

6. How do I know what’s stressed and not stressed?
Say the word out loud as you naturally would, but listen to which syllables are emphasized.
Trial
Taxes
Upset
Retain
Badminton
Government
Pirouette
Write down your answers, using capital letters for the syllables that you emphasized.

7. Is this what you said? TRI-al TAX-es up-SET re-TAIN BAD-min-ton
GOV-ern-ment
pir-ou-ETTE

8. Write your name and mark the stressed and unstressed syllables
\ u u \ u \
Chris to pher Sa bol cik
CHRIS toe fur SAH bull CHICK
/ u / u
Stu art E gan
STU art EEE gun

9. Scansion
(1) the act of scanning, or analyzing poetry in terms of its rhythmic components
(2) the graphic representation, indicated by marked accents, feet, etc., of the rhythm of a line or lines of verse
You may have seen scansion marks like the following:
The curved lines are “unstressed” syllables while the straight slashes are “stressed”

10. With hot intent the flames will soon expire.

11. Poetic Foot
A poetic foot is a repeated sequence of rhythm comprised of two or more stressed and/or unstressed syllables.
Poetic meter is comprised of poetic feet

12. Poetic Meter Meters are the rhythms within poems.
Meters are the arrangement of stressed/unstressed syllables to occur at apparently equal intervals.
Metered verse has prescribed rules as to the number and placement of syllables used per line.

13. Five main patterns to poetic feet:
1. Iambic
2. Trochaic
3. Anapestic
4. Dactylic
5. Spondaic

14. Iambic pattern 1 unstressed syllable followed by 1 stressed syllable
EXAMPLES:
repose (re-POSE)
belief (be-LIEF)
complete (com-PLETE)
The morns are meeker than they were, The nuts are getting brown

15. Trochaic Pattern 1 stressed syllable followed by 1 unstressed syllable
EXAMPLES:
garland (GAR-land)
speaking (SPEAK-ing)
value (VAL-ue)
Come on, baby, light my fire. Try to set the night on fire.

16. Anapestic pattern
2 unstressed syllables followed by 1 stressed syllable
EXAMPLES:
on the road
interrupt (in-ter-RUPT)
unabridged, contradict, engineer, masquerade, Galilee
'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house,

17. Dactylic pattern
1 stressed syllable followed by 2 unstressed syllables
EXAMPLE:
happiness (HAP-pi-ness)
galloping (GAL-lop-ing)
fortunate, Saturday, daffodil, murmuring, rhapsody
This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks

18. Spondaic Pattern All syllables have equal stress EXAMPLE: Heartbreak
“Out, out…”
"pen-knife," "ad hoc," "heartburn"

19. Rising and Falling Meters
RISING FEET
Iambic
u /
Anapestic
u u /
Rising to the stressed beat from the unstressed.
FALLING FEET
Trochaic
/ u
Dactyllic
/ u u
Falling from the stressed to the unstressed.

20. Some general, non-universal rules that usually apply, but not always
Single-syllable nouns are usually accented
Multi-syllabic words usually have at least one stressed syllable (even prepositions)
Single-syllable articles, conjunctions, and prepositions are usually not accented (“but” or “yet” can go either way)
Prefixes are usually not accented

21. The Iambic foot
The iamb = (1 unstressed syllable + 1 stressed syllable) is the most common poetic foot in English verse.
iambic foot examples:
beHOLD
desTROY
the SUN (articles such as “the” are usually unstressed syllables)
and WATCH (conjunctions such as and are usually unstressed syllables)

22. Irregularities – PAY ATTENTION TO THEM
IAMBIC PENT
IAMBIC PENT
IAMBIC
TRI
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.

23. Trochaic poem: a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's “The Song of Hiawatha”
By the / shores of / Gitche / Gumee,
By the / shining / Big-Sea /-Water,
Stood the / wigwam / of No / komis,
Daughter / of the / Moon, No / komis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before' it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

24. A Limerick by Edward Lear:
Anapestic poetry: 2 unstressed syllables + 1 stressed one Limericks contain anapestic meter (in blue)
A Limerick by Edward Lear:
There was / an Old Man / with a beard, Who said, "It is just / as I feared! Two Owls / and a Hen, Four Larks / and a Wren, Have all / built their nests / in my beard!"

25. Dactylic poem: 1 stressed + 2 unstressed
Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Half a league, / half a league,
Half a league / on ward,
All in the / valley of / Death
Rode the / six hundred.
"Forward, the / Light Brigade!
Charge for the / guns!" he said:
Into the / valley of / Death
NOTICE THE SPONDEE.
WHY DOES IT FIT TO PUT THERE?

26. Spondaic Poem: 2 equal syllables
Because of this nature of the spondee, a poem (usually) cannot be solely spondaic.
It would be almost impossible to construct a poem entirely of stressed syllables.
Therefore, the spondee usually occurs within a poem having another dominant rhythm scheme.

27. Metrical Feet One Foot = Monometer Two Feet = Dimeter
Three Feet = Trimeter
Four Feet = Tetrameter
Five Feet = Pentameter
Six Feet = Hexameter
Seven Feet = Heptameter
Eight Feet = Octameter

28. + Type + Number = Meter Types of Poetic Feet Monometer
Iambic (1 unstressed + 1 stressed)
Trochaic (1 stressed + 1 unstressed)
Anapestic (2 unstressed + 1 stressed)
Dactylic (1 stressed + 2 unstressed)
Spondaic (all syllables equal)
Number of feet per line
Monometer
Dimeter
Trimeter
Tetrameter
Pentameter
Hexameter
Heptameter
Octometer +

29. When lines don’t quite add up…
Take close note when patterns are broken
Are ideas, tones, images shifted, too?
Catalectic foot – when there is an incomplete foot on the end of a line.
/ u / u / u / _?_
Music, when soft voices die,
/ u / u / u / __?__ Vibrates in the memory—
/ u / u / u / u Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
/ u / u / u / u Live within the senses they quicken.

30. Other Metrical Terms Caesura Enjambement
A pause in the meter or rhythm of a line
Flood-tide below me! || I see you face to face!
Enjambement
A run-on line, continuing into the next without a grammatical break
Green rustlings, more-than-regal charities Drift coolly from that tower of whispered light

31. The Process Break down each word in the line into its syllable(s)
Mark stressed and unstressed beats. Pay attention to words like “a,” “the,” “in,” etc. that are usually unaccented. Also pay attention to words that are usually accented (single syllable nouns)
Spot the pattern of feet. Are there mostly iambs, trochees, dactyls, or anapests?
How many feet per line? (monometer, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, etc.)
Where are there pattern breaks? How does the effect fit with the content?

32. 2. 3. 4. 1. u / u / u / u / Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the vil lage though
u / u / u / u /
He will not see me stop ping here
u / u / u / u /
To watch his woods fill up with snow
What meter does this poem have?

33. 2. 3. 4. 1. u / u / u / u / Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the vil lage though
u / u / u / u /
He will not see me stop ping here
u / u / u / u /
To watch his woods fill up with snow
IAMBIC TETRAMETER!

34. Read pages

35. Practice Time Complete a scansion analysis of the poems on the half sheet provided.

36. SOUND DEVICES – the effects that the sound of a word has when read aloud
ALLITERATION—is the repetition of the initial letter or sound in two or more words in a line of verse. Sneaky snakes slide side straddle. ONOMATOPOEIA—is the use of a word to represent or imitate natural sounds (buzz, crunch, gurgle, sizzle, hiss)

37. More Sound Devices
ASSONANCE—is the similarity or repetition of a vowel sound in two or more words. Lake and stake are rhymes; lake and fate are assonance. Base and face are rhymes; base and fate are assonance. CONSONANCE—is the repetition of consonant sounds within a line of verse. Consonance is similar to alliteration except that consonance doesn’t limit the repeated sound to the initial letter or a word. But such a tide as moving seems asleep.

38. More Sound Devices
REFRAIN—is the repetition of one or more phrases or lines at intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza. The refrain often takes the form of a chorus.
REPETITION—is the reiterating of a word or phrase within a poem.

39. End of Presentation

40. Metrical Feet Once upon a midnight dreary Leaf again, life again
Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
I am called to the front of the room

41. Metrical Feet Once upon a midnight dreary Leaf again, life again
trochaic tetrameter
Leaf again, life again
dactylic dimeter
Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me
iambic heptameter

42. Metrical Feet How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
iambic pentameter
I am called to the front of the room
anapestic trimeter