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Meter and Rhythm. What do you know about these terms? Discuss! Syllable – Stressed/Unstressed beats - Poetic feet - Poetic meter Poetry Boot Camp Day 3. Syllables. English words have clear syllables. We can usually divide words into syllables easily.
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Meter and Rhythm What do you know about these terms? Discuss! Syllable – Stressed/Unstressed beats - Poetic feet - Poetic meter Poetry Boot Camp Day 3
Syllables • English words have clear syllables. • We can usually divide words into syllables easily. • We can also determine which syllables to emphasize, or “stress” in each word. • For example: • Angel = AN-gel (not an-GEL) / u • angel • Complete = com-PLETE (not COM-plete) u / - complete
More Syllables • poem = PO-em…….(1 stressed + 1 unstressed) • poetry = PO-e-try…….(1 stressed + 2 unstressed) • relief = re-LIEF…….(1unstressed + 1 stressed) • recommend = re-com-MEND(2 unstressed + 1 stressed) • discomfort = dis-COM-fort…(1 unstressed + 1 stressed + 1 unstressed) • entertainment = en-ter-TAIN-ment(2 unstressed + 1 stressed + 1 unstressed)
A Helpful Hint… • Place your hand under your chin while reading the poem aloud. Your chin will naturally hit your hand on the stressed beats. • Darth Vader decided to crush the rebel soldier. • Luke will rebel against his father's wishes. • How do these sound differently? • Darth Vader decided to crush the reBEL soldier. • Luke will REbel against his father’s wishes.
Another Helpful Procedure Demon Deacon Basketball • Break into the syllables and spell phonetically dee | mun | deek | ahn | bask | it | bahl 2. Say it aloud or think about the sound a few times. Capitalize the syllables that seem to be stressed. DEE | mun | DEEK | ahn | BASK | it | bahl not dee | MUN | deek | AHN | bask | IT | bahl
How do I know what’s stressed and not stressed? • Say the word out loud as you naturally would, but listen to which syllables are emphasized. • Trial • Taxes • Upset • Retain • Badminton • Government • Pirouette • Write down your answers, using capital letters for the syllables that you emphasized.
Is this what you said? • TRI-al • TAX-es • up-SET • re-TAIN • BAD-min-ton • GOV-ern-ment • pir-ou-ETTE
Write your name and mark the stressed and unstressed syllables \ u u \ u \ Chris to pher Sa bol cik CHRIStoe fur SAH bull CHICK / u / u Stu art E gan STU art EEE gun
Scansion • (1) the act of scanning, or analyzing poetry in terms of its rhythmic components • (2) the graphic representation, indicated by marked accents, feet, etc., of the rhythm of a line or lines of verse • You may have seen scansion marks like the following: The curved lines are “unstressed” syllables while the straight slashes are “stressed”
With hot intent the flames will soon expire. with HOT in-TENT the FLAMES will SOON ex-PIRE
Poetic Foot • A poetic foot is a repeated sequence of rhythm comprised of two or more stressed and/or unstressed syllables. • Poetic meteris comprised ofpoetic feet
Poetic Meter • Meters are the rhythms within poems. • Meters are the arrangement of stressed/unstressed syllables to occur at apparently equal intervals. • Metered verse has prescribed rules as to the number and placement of syllables used per line.
Five main patterns to poetic feet: 1. Iambic 2. Trochaic 3.Anapestic 4. Dactylic 5. Spondaic
Iambic pattern • 1unstressed syllablefollowed by1 stressed syllable • EXAMPLES: • repose (re-POSE) • belief (be-LIEF) • complete (com-PLETE) • The morns are meeker than they were,The nuts are getting brown
Trochaic Pattern • 1 stressed syllablefollowed by1 unstressed syllable • EXAMPLES: • garland (GAR-land) • speaking (SPEAK-ing) • value (VAL-ue) • Come on, baby, light my fire.Try to set the night on fire.
Anapestic pattern • 2 unstressed syllablesfollowed by1 stressed syllable • EXAMPLES: • on the road • interrupt (in-ter-RUPT) • unabridged, contradict, engineer, masquerade, Galilee • 'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house,
Dactylic pattern • 1 stressed syllable followed by 2 unstressed syllables • EXAMPLE: • happiness (HAP-pi-ness) • galloping (GAL-lop-ing) • fortunate, Saturday, daffodil, murmuring, rhapsody • This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks
Spondaic Pattern • All syllables have equal stress • EXAMPLE: • Heartbreak • “Out, out…” • "pen-knife," "ad hoc," "heartburn"
Rising and Falling Meters • RISING FEET • Iambic u / • Anapestic u u / Rising to the stressed beat from the unstressed. • FALLING FEET • Trochaic / u • Dactyllic / u u Falling from the stressed to the unstressed.
Some general, non-universal rules that usually apply, but not always • Single-syllable nouns are usually accented • Multi-syllabic words usually have at least one stressed syllable (even prepositions) • Single-syllable articles, conjunctions, and prepositions are usually not accented (“but” or “yet” can go either way) • Prefixes are usually not accented
The Iambic foot • The iamb = (1 unstressed syllable + 1 stressed syllable) is the most common poetic foot in English verse. • iambic foot examples: • beHOLD • desTROY • theSUN(articles such as “the” are usually unstressed syllables) • andWATCH(conjunctions such as and are usually unstressed syllables)
Irregularities – PAY ATTENTION TO THEM IAMBIC PENT IAMBIC PENT IAMBICPENT IAMBICPENT IAMBIC TRI Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury Signifying nothing.
Trochaic poem:a stressed syllable followed by an unstressedone Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's “The Song of Hiawatha” By the / shores of / Gitche / Gumee, By the / shining / Big-Sea /-Water, Stood the / wigwam / of No / komis, Daughter / of the / Moon, No / komis. Dark behind it rose the forest, Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees, Rose the firs with cones upon them; Bright before' it beat the water, Beat the clear and sunny water, Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.
Anapestic poetry:2 unstressed syllables + 1 stressed oneLimericks contain anapestic meter (in blue) A Limerick by Edward Lear: There was / an Old Man / with a beard,Who said, "It is just / as I feared!Two Owls / and a Hen,Four Larks / and a Wren,Have all / built their nests / in my beard!"
Dactylic poem:1 stressed + 2 unstressed Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson Half a league, /half a league, Halfa league /on ward, All in the /valley of /Death Rode the /six hundred. "Forward, the /Light Brigade! Charge for the /guns!" he said: Into the /valley of /Death Rode the /six hundred. NOTICE THE SPONDEE. WHY DOES IT FIT TO PUT THERE?
SpondaicPoem: 2 equal syllables • Because of this nature of the spondee, a poem (usually) cannot be solely spondaic. • It would be almost impossible to construct a poem entirely of stressed syllables. • Therefore, the spondee usually occurs within a poem having another dominant rhythm scheme.
One Foot = Monometer Two Feet = Dimeter Three Feet = Trimeter Four Feet = Tetrameter Five Feet = Pentameter Six Feet = Hexameter Seven Feet = Heptameter Eight Feet = Octameter Metrical Feet
Types of Poetic Feet Iambic(1 unstressed + 1 stressed) Trochaic(1 stressed + 1 unstressed) Anapestic(2 unstressed + 1 stressed) Dactylic(1 stressed + 2 unstressed) Spondaic(all syllables equal) Number of feet per line Monometer Dimeter Trimeter Tetrameter Pentameter Hexameter Heptameter Octometer Type + Number = Meter +
When lines don’t quite add up… • Take close note when patterns are broken • Are ideas, tones, images shifted, too? • Catalectic foot – when there is an incomplete foot on the end of a line. / u / u / u / _?_ Music, when soft voices die, / u / u / u / __?__Vibrates in the memory— / u / u / u / uOdours, when sweet violets sicken, / u / u / u / u Live within the senses they quicken.
Other Metrical Terms Caesura A pause in the meter or rhythm of a line Flood-tide below me! || I see you face to face! Enjambement A run-on line, continuing into the next without a grammatical break Green rustlings, more-than-regal charities Drift coolly from that tower of whispered light
The Process • Break down each word in the line into its syllable(s) • Mark stressed and unstressed beats. Pay attention to words like “a,” “the,” “in,” etc. that are usually unaccented. Also pay attention to words that are usually accented (single syllable nouns) • Spot the pattern of feet. Are there mostly iambs, trochees, dactyls, or anapests? • How many feet per line? (monometer, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, etc.) • Where are there pattern breaks? How does the effect fit with the content?
3. 4. 2. u / u / u / u / Whose woods these are I think I know u / u / u / u / His house is in the vil lage though u / u / u / u / He will not see me stop ping here u / u / u / u / To watch his woods fill up with snow 1. What meter does this poem have?
3. 4. 2. u / u / u / u / Whose woods these are I think I know u / u / u / u / His house is in the vil lage though u / u / u / u / He will not see me stop ping here u / u / u / u / To watch his woods fill up with snow 1. IAMBIC TETRAMETER!
Practice TimeComplete a scansion analysis of the poems on the half sheet provided.
SOUND DEVICES – the effects that the sound of a word has when read aloud ALLITERATION—is the repetition of the initial letter or sound in two or more words in a line of verse. Sneaky snakes slide side straddle. ONOMATOPOEIA—is the use of a word to represent or imitate natural sounds (buzz, crunch, gurgle, sizzle, hiss)
More Sound Devices ASSONANCE—is the similarity or repetition of a vowel sound in two or more words. Lake and stake are rhymes; lake and fate are assonance. Base and face are rhymes; base and fate are assonance. CONSONANCE—is the repetition of consonant sounds within a line of verse. Consonance is similar to alliteration except that consonance doesn’t limit the repeated sound to the initial letter or a word. But such a tide as moving seems asleep.
More Sound Devices REFRAIN—is the repetition of one or more phrases or lines at intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza. The refrain often takes the form of a chorus. REPETITION—is the reiterating of a word or phrase within a poem.
Once upon a midnight dreary Leaf again, life again Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me How do I love thee? Let me count the ways I am called to the front of the room Metrical Feet
Once upon a midnightdreary trochaic tetrameter Leaf again, life again dactylic dimeter Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me iambic heptameter Metrical Feet
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways iambic pentameter I am called to the front of the room anapestic trimeter Metrical Feet