What Is Meter in Poetry?

Meter is the basic rhythmic structure of a line within a work of poetry. Meter consists of
two components:

1. The number of syllables

2. A pattern of emphasis on those syllables

A line of poetry can be broken into “feet,” which are individual units within a line of
poetry. A foot of poetry has a specific number of syllables and a specific pattern of
emphasis.

English poetry employs five basic rhythms of varying stressed (/) and
unstressed (x) syllables. The meters are iambs, trochees, spondees, anapests
and dactyls. In this document the stressed syllables are marked in boldface
type rather than the tradition al "/" and "x." Each unit of rhythm is called a
"foot" of poetry.

Common Types of Feet in Poetry

In English poetry, the most common types of metrical feet are two syllables and three
syllables long. They’re characterized by their particular combination of stressed
syllables and unstressed syllables. They include:

 Trochee. Pronounced DUH-duh, as in “ladder.”

 Iamb. Pronounced duh-DUH, as in “indeed.”
 Spondee. Pronounced DUH-DUH, as in “TV.”
 Dactyl. Pronounced DUH-duh-duh, as in “certainly.”
 Anapest. Pronounced duh-duh-DUH, as in “what the heck!” (Anapestic poetry typically
divides its stressed syllables across multiple words.)

The meters with two-syllable feet are

 IAMBIC (x /) : That time of year thou mayst in me behold
 TROCHAIC (/ x): Tell me not in mournful numbers
 SPONDAIC (/ /): Break, break, break/ On thy cold gray stones,
O Sea!

Meters with three-syllable feet are

 ANAPESTIC (x x /): And the sound of a voice that is still

 DACTYLIC (/ x x): This is the forest primeval,
the murmuring pines and the hemlock (a trochee replaces the final
dactyl)
Each line of a poem contains a certain number of feet of iambs, trochees,
spondees, dactyls or anapests. A line of one foot is a monometer, 2 feet is a
dimeter, and so on--trimeter (3), tetrameter (4), pentameter (5), hexameter (6),
heptameter (7), and o ctameter (8). The number of syllables in a line varies
therefore according to the meter. A good example of trochaic monometer, for
example, is this poem entitled "Fleas":
Adam
Had'em.

Here are some more serious examples of the various meters.

iambic pentameter (5 iambs, 10 syllables)

 That time | of year | thou mayst | in me | behold

trochaic tetrameter (4 trochees, 8 syllables)

 Tell me | not in | mournful | numbers

anapestic trimeter (3 anapests, 9 syllables)

 And the sound | of a voice | that is still

dactylic hexameter (6 dactyls, 17 syllables; a trochee replaces the last dactyl)

 This is the | forest pri | meval, the | murmuring | pine and the

| hemlocks

Iamb Meter Examples

Iamb meter has the first syllable unaccented and the second accented so it sounds like duh
DUH. Here are examples of iamb meter:

That time / of year / thou mayst / in me / be hold - William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 73"
Shall I /com pare /thee to / a sum / mer's day? - William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18"
Come live / with me / and be / my love
And we / will all / the plea / sures prove - Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to
His Love"
All I / could see / from where / I stood / Was three / long moun / tains and / a wood; - Edna St.
Vincent Millay's "Renascence"
To swell / the gourd, / and plump / the ha / zel shells - John Keats' "To Autumn"

Trochee Meter Examples

Trochee meter has the first syllable accented and the second unaccented so it sounds like DUH
duh. Here are examples of trochee meter:

Tell me / not in / mournful / numbers

By the / shores of / Gitche / Gumee,
By the / shining / Big-Sea- / Water - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha"
Why so / pale and / wan, fond / Lover?

Prithee / why so / pale?

Will, when / looking / well can't / move her,
Looking / ill pre / vail?
Prithee / why so / pale? - Sir John Suckling's "Song: Why so pale and wan fond lover?"

The Grizz / ly Bear / is huge / and wild;

He has / devoured / an in / fant child.
The in / fant child / is not / aware
It has / been eat / en by / the bear. - A. E. Housman's "Infant Innocence"

Earth, re / ceive / an hon / oured guest;

William / Yeats is / laid to / rest:
Let this / Irish / vessel / lie
Emptied / of its / poet / ry. - W. H. Auden's "In Memory of W. B. Yeats"

Dactyl Meter Examples

Dactyl meter has the first syllable accented and the second and third unaccented so it sounds
like DUH duh duh. Here are examples of dactyl meter:
This is the / forest pri / meval,
the murmur / ing pines and / the hemlock - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Evangeline"
Cannon to / right of them,
Cannon to / left of them,
Cannon in / front of them
Volley'd and / thunder'd; - Alfred Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade"
Half a league, / half a league
Half a league / onward, - Alfred Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade"
We that had / Loved him so
Followed him / Honoured him, - Robert Browning's "The Lost Leader"
Just for a / handful of / silver he / left us
Just for a / riband to / stick in his / coat - Robert Browning's "The Lost Leader"

Anapest Meter Examples

Anapest meter has the first two syllables unaccented and the third syllable accented so it
sounds like duh duh DUH. Here are examples of anapest meter:

The Assy / rian came down / like a wolf / on the fold

And his co / horts were gleam / ing in pur / ple and gold - Lord Byron's "The Destruction of
Sennacherib"
And the sheen / of their spears / was like stars / on the sea, - Lord Byron's "The Destruction of
Sennacherib"
In the midst / of the word / he was try / ing to say,
In the midst / of his laugh / ter and glee,
He had soft / ly and sud / denly van / ished away -
For the Snark / was a Boo / jum, you see. - Lewis Carroll, "The Hunting of the Snark"
Oh, Potter, / you rotter, / oh, what have / you done,
You're kill / ing off stu / dents, you think / it's good fun. - Peeves's song from Harry Potter
His eyes are / as green as / a fresh pick / led toad - Harry's valentine from Harry Potter
From the cen / tre all round / to the sea,
I am lord / of the fowl / and the brute. - Will Cowper's "Verses Supposed To Be Written By
Alexander Selkirk, During His Solitary Abode In The Island Of San Fernandez"

Spondee Meter Examples

Spondee meter follows the two-syllable rhyming pattern, but both are stressed to sound like
DUH DUH. Here are examples of spondee meter:

With / swift, slow; / sweet, sour; / adazzle, dim; - Gerald Manley Hopkins "Pied Beauty"
Break, break, / break
On thy cold gray / stones, / O Sea! - Alfred, Lord Tennyson "Break, Break, Break"
Slow, slow, / fresh fount, / keep time / with my / salt tears; - Ben Johnson "Slow, Slow, Fresh
Fount"
As yet but knock, / breathe, shine, / and seek to mend; - John Donne "Holy Sonnet XIV"
Given that spondee provides irregular feet to the poetry, it's commonly only used in areas of a
poem.