Walking the Poem -- Feet and Meter in Poetry

Rhythm refers to the occurance of stressed and unstressed sounds. Meter is the tool we use to define this rhythm.

The foot is the base unit we use to measure rhythm. At it's simplest, each foot consists of one accented syllable, and one or two unaccented syllables. Throughout this article, the following conventions will be used: for each accented syllable (‘ ), for each unaccented syllable (-), and for the caesura or rest ( || )

The six most common feet in English poetry are: iambic ( - ‘ ), trochaic( '- ) , anapestic ( - - ‘ ),

dactylic ( ‘- - ), pyrrhic ( - - ), and the spondee or spondaic ( ‘’ ).

These terms are taken from classical Greek prose, and have been adapted to use in describing the patterns and structures of English accentual - syllabic verse. While other obscure foot structures do exist, they are almost impossible to apply to English, and therefore will not be addressed here. The six structures listed above, with the addition of the monosyllabic foot (a single stressed syllable), and the feminine ending (an unstressed syllable at the end of a line) are all the foot forms needed to discuss poetry in the English language.

Iambic and anapestic are called rising meter, as they go from unstressed to stressed. Trochaic and Dactylic are falling meter, moving from stressed to unstressed. Anapests and Datyls tend to move more rapidly and lightly than Iambs or Trochees. Thus the pattern of meter chosen may be dictated by the subject, for example, a poem about a tragic loss would be unsuited to the light rising pattern of the Anapest.

Keeping in mind that one of these six basic meters may constitute the basic rhythm of the poem, variations can occur within the lines to change the pace, or to call attention to a particular word.

The basic tools for creating these variations include the spondee and the caesura. The caesura is, quite simply, a pause within a line. The commas in the preceeding sentence provide one form of caesura.

Meter is used to define the number of feet contained within a line of poetry. The commonly defined meters in English are monometer (1 foot), dimeter ( 2 feet), trimeter (3), tetrameter (4), pentameter (5) and hexameter (6). There exist meters beyond these, but there use in English language poetry is limited. These, in conjunction with the feet defined above, provide one way of describing the writen poem. In using these terms, the traditional format has been to define first the foot style, then the length of the line itself. In practice, the description "Iambic Pentameter", the traditional pattern for the Shakespearean sonnet, defines a line formed of 5 Iambs, or 10 syllables. Again, these descriptions define the general structure of a poem, with some variation of meter being desirable to provide a more natural flow of sound and meaning. In many cases, the unstressed feminine ended line is not considered a "syllable" for purposes of defining meter, thus a sonnet line may contain 11 syllables, but still be considered Iambic Pentameter. The clever poet makes use of all these tools and meters in his efforts.

Last, but certainly not least, is how a line ends. When a line has a natural pause at the end, often indicated by some form of punctuation, it is referred to as being end-stopped. Aline that ends without this pause and continues into the next line to establish it's meaning is called a run-on line or an enjambment. Enjambed lines have a different rhythm than end-stopped lines.

Excerpt from "My Heart Leaps UP", by Wordsworth

My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;

Lines 1 is an enjambed line, line 3 is end-stopped.