How Poets Create Meter

In poetry, one way to create rhythm is by using meter. Meter is measured in “feet” and depends on the type of stress we put on words and phrases and how many of these feet we put in each line of poetry.

The types of stress are: a stressed syllable (/) or an unstressed syllable (U).

Common types of feet: Advanced types of feet:

iamb = U / tribrach = U U U trochee = / U cretic = / U / anapest = U U / bacchius = U / / dactyl = / U U ionic a minore: U U / / spondee = / / epitrite = U / / / pyrrhic = U U mollossos = / / / amphibrach = U / U antibacchius = / / U ionic a majore = / / U U choriamb = / U U /

A poet can put various numbers of the above feet in each line of poetry. When you scan a line of poetry to count these, you count the feet to determine its meter (this is called “scansion”). The following are terms used to refer to the number of feet per line (do you recognize the math prefixes?):

monometer = 1 foot hexameter = 6 feet dimeter = 2 feet heptameter = 7 feet trimeter = 3 feet octameter = 8 feet tetrameter = 4 feet nonameter = 9 feet pentameter = 5 feet

*** The only “foot” you will need to know at the high school level is the iamb. Why? One of your poetry terms is blank verse, which is unrhymed iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter means that there are five iambs in one line of poetry. This is the language used by William Shakespeare in his plays. You will experience a lot of iambic pentameter in Romeo and Juliet.

Iambic pentameter looks like this: U / U / U / U / U /

U / U / U / U / U / But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

Part of scanning a poem for the meter is being able to hear where the stresses are. We all hear a poem and its stresses a little bit differently. Scansion is not an exact science. By experimenting with meter, you can create rhythm in your poems.