Download Introduction to poetic meter

Introduction to Poetic Meter
Peters, 2013
What is METER?
• Any piece of writing (or music) in which there
is a regular pattern of beats is said to have
‘meter’
• The patterns are made of hard and soft beats
• Let’s identify some patterns…
The pattern
~ /
This
represents
a soft beat
Together, the
repeat of a
combination is
called a “foot”
This
respresents a
hard beat
Look at the following patterns and
count how many feet you can see!
1. ~/~/~/~/~/
2.~~/~~/~~/
3./~/~/~/~/~/~
4./~/~/~/~
5./~~/~~
To name the line, use the following
Number of
feet
Prefix
+
meter=
One
Mono
Monometer
Two
Di
Dimeter
Three
Tri
Trimeter
Four
Tetra
Tetrameter
Five
Penta
Pentameter
Six
Hex
a
Hexameter
Seven
Hep
a
Heptameter
Eight
oct
a
octameter
Label the following patterns
1.
2.
3.
4.
~/ ~/ ~/ ~/ ~/
~~/ ~~/ ~~/
/~/~/~/~/~/~
/~~ /~~
What are the different feet called?
Pattern
Noun
Adjective
~/
Iamb
iambic
~~/
Anapest
anapestic
/~~
Dactyl
Dactylic
/~
Trochee
Trochaic
//
Spondee
spondaic
We describe a poetic line, then, by
its type and number of poetic feet.
For example, 5 iambs = iambic
pentameter (ah, Shakespeare!!!)
Chaucer wrote in two rhyming lines of
iambic pentamter, known as a “heroic
couplet”
Shakespeare borrowed this form to
express love and wickedness
~ /
~ / ~ / ~ / ~
/
He knew the way to sit a horse and ride
~
/
~
/
~
/ ~ / ~ /
He could make songs and poems and recite