POETIC RHYTHM

Rhythm
■ the beats or meter that compose the differing lines of any
form of poetry except for free verse (nonmetrical,
nonrhyming)
■ Unit of meter=a foot; each specific syllable
■ Each syllable measured as stressed or unstressed (is it
emphasized or not)

■ PRACTICE using names

Common Types of Meter
■ Iambic- unstressed, stressed
– Ex: There is a lady sweet and kind
■ Trochaic- stressed, unstressed
– Ex: Do you like green eggs and ham?
■ Spondaic- stressed, stressed (unusual)
– Ex: Cry, Cry!
■ Anapestic- unstressed, unstressed, stressed
– In the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool
Sonnet
■ Uses iambic pentameter (unstressed, stressed for 5 feet)
■ 14 lines
■ Common theme: LOVE
■ Italian/Petrarchan: Octave (8 lines) and Sestet (6 lines) (ABBAABBA CDCDCD)
– https://interestingliterature.com/2016/01/25/a-short-analysis-of-christina-
rossettis-remember/
■ Shakespearean/Elizabethan: 3 quatrains and rhyming couplet (ABAB CDCD EFEF
GG)
– https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45087/sonnet-18-shall-i-compare-
thee-to-a-summers-day