EXPLICATION/EXPLICATE: act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text, usually involves close reading and special attention to figurative language.

pros·o·dy/noun 1. The patterns of rhythm and sound used in poetry. 2. The patterns of stress and intonation in a language. All prosody is either:

Quantitative - The prosody varies throughout the lines, strophes or stanzas.

Normative – All the lines, strophes or stanzas follow the same prosody Verbal: Arrangement by word count so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens Spatial: arrangement by visual pattern Syllabic: Arrangement by syllable count (Haiku translated from Japanese)

O snail

Climb Mount Fuji,

But slowly, slowly!

- Kobayaski Issa Accentual: Arrangement by stresses what if a much of a which of a wind gives the truth to summer’s lie; bloodies with dizzying leaves the sun and yanks immortal stars awry? -e.e.cummings Acctentual-Syllabic: Arrangement by syllable and stresses

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate Unstressed syllable: the syllable within the metric foot given little or no emphasis when spoken out loud. •Parts of Speech which are ALWAYS unstressed: articles (a, the, an), prefixes (ex-. in-, un-, re-, etc) and suffixes (-ing, -er, -ed, etc) •Parts of speech which are usually unstressed: pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions

Stressed syllable: the syllable within the metric foot given heavy emphasis when spoken out loud. •Root words are ALWAYS stressed! Iambic Pentameter: An arrangement of poetry in to 10syllable lines (five 2syllable feet) consisting of primarily iambs. The most common meter used in the English language.

Ex. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate

Common feet in iambic pentameter Iamb: a lightly stressed syllable followed by a heavily stressed syllable Trochee: a heavily stressed syllable followed by a lightly stressed syllable Occasional feet in iambic pentameter Spondee: two consecutive heavily stressed syllables Phyric: two consecutive lightly stressed syllables

Uncommon feet in iambic pentameter Anapest: two lightly stressed syllables followed by a heavily stressed syllable Dactyl: one heavily stressed syllables followed by two lightly stressed syllables Ellision: the omission of a sound or syllable to accommodate a certain number of syllables in a line of verse, the usual mark for elision is ' Ex. o’erwhelmed

Scansion: The metrical analysis of verse. The usual marks for scansion are ˘ for a short or lightly stressed syllable, ̷ for a long or heavily stressed syllable, | for a foot division, and // for a caesura. Common Meter

Trimeter: a line of verse consisting of three metrical feet.

Ex. When I |was one-|and-twenty I heard |a wise |man say, 'Give crowns| and pounds| and guineas But not| your heart| away; -E. Housman Common Meter (cont.)

Tetrameter: a line of verse consisting of four metrical feet. Ex. I wand|ered, lone|ly as| a cloud That floats| on high| o’er dales| and hills When, all| at once, | I saw| a crowd A host |of gold|en daff|odils. -Wordsworth Common Meter (cont.)

Pentameter: a line of verse consisting of five metrical feet.

Ex. Where are |the songs |of Spring? |Ay, where| are they? Think not |of them, |thou hast |thy mus|ic too, -John Keats Common Meter (cont.)

Hexameter: a line of verse consisting of six metrical feet.

Ex. The moon| rains out| her beams, | and Heav|en is |overflow’d. -Percy Shelley

Naming Meter:

Meter is named according to its primary foot and foot count. The above meter is all iambic, so it would be named iambic trimeter, iambic tetrameter, iambic pentameter and iambic hexameter. Below are a couple examples of the same meters with different primary feet:

Dactylic Hexameter (Heroic verse) ́ ̆ ̆ ́ ̆ ̆ ́ ̆ ̆ ́ ̆ ̆ ́ ̆ ̆ ́ ̆ Ex. This is the| forest pri|meval. The| murmuring |pines and the| hemlocks, -Wadsworth Anapestic Trimeter ̆ ̆ ́ ̆ ̆ ́ ̆ ̆ ́ Ex. I am lord |of the fowl |and the brute. Practice 1:

He moves in darkness as it seems to me,

Not of woods only and the shade of trees. Practice 2:

It melted, and I let it fall and break.

But I was well

Upon my way to sleep before it fell,

And I could tell Practice 3:

I ’M nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody, too?

Then there ’s a pair of us—don’t tell!

They ’d banish us, you know