Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
English is an accentual language, and therefore beats and offbeats (stressed and unstressed syllables) take the place of the long and short syllables of classical systems. In most English verse, the metre can be considered as a sort of back beat, against which natural speech rhythms vary expressively.
The Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms. Routledge, 2005. ISBN 0-415-34017-9. J. A. Cuddon. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Penguin Books, 2000. ISBN 0-14-051363-9. Dana Gioia. The Longman Dictionary of Literary Terms: Vocabulary for the Informed Reader. Longman, 2005. ISBN 0-321-33194-X. Sharon Hamilton.
An example of scansion over a quote from Alexander Pope. Scansion (/ ˈ s k æ n. ʃ ə n / SKAN-shən, rhymes with mansion; verb: to scan), or a system of scansion, is the method or practice of determining and (usually) graphically representing the metrical pattern of a line of verse.
Iambic pentameter is the most common meter in English poetry. It was first introduced into English by Chaucer in the 14th century on the basis of French and Italian models. It is used in several major English poetic forms, including blank verse, the heroic couplet, and some of the traditionally rhymed stanza forms.
Common metre or common measure [1] —abbreviated as C. M. or CM—is a poetic metre consisting of four lines that alternate between iambic tetrameter (four metrical feet per line) and iambic trimeter (three metrical feet per line), with each foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
"I know every morning when I get up and write a poem that I am still alive, too," writes Jane Yolen, author of more than 450 books.
Anapaest–A three-syllable metrical pattern in poetry in which two unstressed syllables are followed by a stressed syllable. Dactyl–A three-syllable metrical pattern in poetry in which a stressed syllable is followed by two unstressed syllables. Spondee–A beat in a poetic line that consists of two accented syllables. It is a poetic form ...
A definition of musical metre requires the possibility of identifying a repeating pattern of accented pulses – a "pulse-group" – which corresponds to the foot in poetry. [ citation needed ] Frequently a pulse-group can be identified by taking the accented beat as the first pulse in the group and counting the pulses until the next accent.