Notes on Meter, Foot, and Rhyme

End Rhyme

• The rhyming of words at the end of two or more lines of poetry

• Example:– When you make your poetry rhyme…– You’ll keep your step and be just fine.

Rhyme scheme

• A pattern of rhyming in a poem; to describe the pattern or scheme, each line is assigned a letter, and lines that rhyme are given the same letter

Foot

• Is the smallest repeated pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poetic line

Types of Foot• Iambic—an unstressed (u) followed by a stressed (/) syllable (u /)•Anapestic—two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable (u u /)• Trochaic—a stressed followed by an unstressed syllable (/ u); opposite of iambic

Types of Foot cont.

•Dactylic—a stressed followed by two unstressed syllables (/ u u)• Spondaic—two stressed syllables (/ /)• Pyrrhic—two unstressed syllables (pyrrhic seldom appears by itself) (u u)

Stanza

• A line or group of lines in a poem separated by other groups of lines by extra space; a division in a poem that occurs at a natural pause or a point where the poet wants to speed up or slow down where the poem, shift its tone, change the setting, introduce a new idea or character

Types of Stanzas

• Couplet – 2 lines• Triplet – 3 lines•Quatrain – 4 lines•Quintet – 5 lines• Sestet – 6 lines• Septet – 7 lines•Octave – 8 lines

Verse• The metric line of poetry; measured in feet

• Types:–Monometer – 1 foot–Dimeter – 2 feet–Trimeter – 3 feet–Tetrameter – 4 feet–Pentameter – 5 feet–Hexameter – 6 feet–Heptameter – 7 feet–Octometer – 8 feet