XPost: alt.arts.poetry.comments, alt.poetry
On Fri, 31 Jan 2025 13:53:40 +0000, W.Dockery wrote:
Terry Zod wrote:
George J. Dance wrote:
I have been rewriting the section on the "Foot" on PPP's article on
"meter". The earlier one came from Wikipedia. I think this new wording
explains the concept in a way that's easier to follow, and is also more
comprehensive. I'd like to put it up here for criticism.
"In most Western poetic traditions, the meter of a verse is described as >>> a sequence or pattern of regularly occurring feet. A "foot" is a series
of syllables, of which at least 1 is accented or stressed (pronounced
more emphatically).
There can in theory be a large variety of feet (see table on right).
However, in order to scan most English verse, or to write your own, you
need to know only 5 of them. In English prosody, a foot has either 2 or
3 syllables, of which 1 and only 1 is normally stressed or accented.
2-syllable feet (disyllables) have either of 2 meters, as the stress or
"accent" can be on either the 1st or the 2nd syllable.
1. Trochaic (the noun is "trochee"): the accent is on the 1st syllable,
as in the opening line of Blake's "Introduction" to Songs of Innocence:
PIPing / DOWN the / VALleys / WILD
2. Iambic (the noun is "iamb"): the accent is on the 2nd syllable, as in >>> line 23 from Shelley's "Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples":
And WALKED / with IN/ward GLOR/y CROWNED.
3-syllable feet (trisyllables) have 1 of 3 meters, as the accent can be
on either the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd syllable.
3.Dactylic (the noun is "dactyl"): the accent is on the 1st syllable, as >>> in "The Voice" by Thomas Hardy:
WOman much / MISSED how you / CALL to me / CALL to me
4.Amphibrachic (the noun is "amphibrach"): the accent is on the 2nd
syllable, as in the limerick "There once was a man from Nantucket":
There ONCE was / a MAN from / NanTUCKet
5.Anapestic (the noun is "anapest"): the accent is on the 3rd syllable,
as in the opening to Byron's "The Destruction of Sennacherib" by Lord
Byron:
The AssYR / ian came DOWN / like the WOLF / in the FOLD
Tetrasyllabic (4-syllable) feet do not play much of a role in English
prosody, but 2 need to be noted. The 1 is the choriamb, consisting of a
trochee followed by an iamb (DUM-da-da-DUM). The other is the double
iamb, equivalent to a pyrrhus followed by a spondee (da-da-DUM-DUM).
Either can be substituted for 2 iambic feet, under certain conditions.
Good read G.D.
Agreed and seconded.
Thanks for putting this back in circulation, Will. The idea of
simplifying the teaching of meter into sommething more easy to keep in
mind intrigues me, and I hope this outline helps. I don't think that
every poet needs to write in meter, aut do think it's something every
poet should know how to do. Even poets who write in free verse, rhythm
or cadence is as important as in formal verse, and a poet who knows how
to consciously use it has an advantage over one who does not.
I haven't done any more writing on that, alas; so all I can do here is
give a couple of links. Here's the article on "meter" I was talking
about; the part I wrote above is in the section called "Feet."
https://pennyspoetry.fandom.com/wiki/Meter
Here's another article I've written about it on the wiki, "How to write
metered verse," where I go into more detail about which syllables are
accented or stressed.
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