MUS 327 Analysis: Rhythm and Meter Week 5 Vocab 3: Poetic Rhythm

Home , Tetrameter, Trochaic tetrameter

Try it yourself:

Scansion of Friedrich Schiller, “Ode an die Freude” (Trochaic tetrameter) Freude, schöner Götterfunken,

Tochter aus Elysium,

Wir betreten feuertrunken,

Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!

Deine Zauber binden wieder

Was die Mode streng geteilt;

Alle Menschen werden Brüder

Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

From Purdue Online Writing Lab, https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/570/02/

Syllables can either be accented, meaning they are naturally given more emphasis when spoken, or unaccented, meaning they receive less emphasis when spoken. Signs for accented/unaccented syllables: u = unaccented syllable – = accented syllable / = break between poetic feet

A poetic foot is a unit of accented and unaccented syllables that is repeated or used in sequence with others to form the meter. Poetic feet are referred to using these terms:  Iambic: u – (destroy)  Anapestic: u u – (intervene)  Trochaic: – u (topsy)  Dactylic: – u u (merrily) An enjambment is the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza. Line Length shows the number of feet per line. In the case of tetrameter, there are basically four feet per line. The types of line lengths are as follows:  One foot: Monometer  Two feet: Dimeter  Three feet: Trimeter  Four feet: Tetrameter  Five feet: Pentameter  Six feet: Hexameter

A Stanza is a group of lines, a quatrain is a group of four lines, and a couplet is a pair of lines.

Declamatory Schema maps beat numbers in a given musical meter onto accented syllables in the poem in order to provide a basic outline of declamatory rhythm and patterns that recur within the song. The declamatory schema allows for a precise comparison between the structures of the poetic lines and musical phrases. Some songs conform to one schema, some use paired schemas for each couplet, some shift between two or more schemas, and some songs feature declamation too variable to be described with a schema (Malin 2010, 15–16). Labels for declamatory schema:  Framing a poetic line: [ ]  Beats without accented syllables: –  Accented syllables between beats: a