2. The foot.
Meters are premeasured patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables. A foot is the individual building block of a meter. They are made up of one stressed syllable, and usually, one or more unstressed syllables.

3. Types of feet Iamb: duh-DUH, as in collapse (2 syllables)
Trochee: DUH-duh, as in pizza (2 syllables)
Anapest: duh-duh-DUH, as in but of course! (3 syllables)
Dactyl: DUH-duh-duh, as in honestly (3 syllables)

4. Meters
Whenever a writer strings together a repetition of one of these feet (anapest, iamb, etc) in a line of poetry, we get different types of meters:
1 foot = monometer
2 feet = dimeter (repeated twice)
3 feet = trimeter
4 feet = tetrameter
5 feet = pentameter
6 feet = hexameter
Syllables + How many times a set of syllables are repeated in a line of poetry

6. And leave | his bro | ken play | things on | the floor.
Iambic Pentameter
One foot consists of ten syllables.
One unstressed syllable followed by a one stressed syllable
Iambic meter is also known as rising meter; it rises toward the stressed syllable.
And leave | his bro | ken play | things on | the floor.
x / x / x / x / x /
And leave | his bro | ken play | things on | the floor.

7. Each night I’d like to see a starry sky With lots of pretty lights to please my eye
Copy these two lines. Separate each iamb and mark each unstressed and unstressed syllable.
Each night | I’d like | to see | a star | ry sky
x / x / x / x / x / With lots | of pret | ty lights | to please | my eye

8. Trochaic meter The trochee
One stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.
DUH-duh = pizza
The opposite of iambic pentameter
Written in a falling meter or away from the stress
Once up | on a | midnight | dreary, | while I | pondered,| weak and | weary. Mark each stressed syllable and each unstressed syllable.

9. Trochaic octameter, since there are 8 sections of two syllables.
Once up | on a | midnight | dreary, | while I | pondered,| weak and | weary.
Challenge: What would we call this line?
Trochaic octameter, since there are 8 sections of two syllables.

10. oh he flies | through the air | with the great | est of ease
The Anapest
Consists of three syllables Two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable Like the iamb, rises toward the final stress Often produces a “sense” of rapid movement
oh he flies | through the air | with the great | est of ease
Divide each foot into syllables. Mark each syllable as stressed or unstressed according to the correct pattern.
x x / x x / x x / x x /

11. The Dactyl Consists of three syllables Is the “reverse” of the anapest
One stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables
Typically used in light verse, but it has been used in serious poetry successfully.
This is the | forest pri | meval. The | murmuring | pines and the | hemlocks

12. Scansion The analysis of the rhythm in a poem is called scansion.
We identify the stressed and unstressed syllables in each line
Determine the kind of poetic foot the line employs and the number of feet it contains or how many times the foot is repeated.