Rhythm and Meter

What are they?

 Rhythm refers to any wavelike recurrence of
motion or sound.
 Meter is the kind of rhythm we can tap our foot
to.
 Metrical language  verse
 Nonmetrical language  prose
 To meter  to measure
 For measuring verse we use the foot, the line,
and the stanza.
 What is the foot?
 The basic metrical unit consists normally
of one accented syllable plus one or two
unaccented syllables, though occasionally
there may be no unaccented syllables, and
very rarely there may be three.
 A vertical bar will indicate the division
between feet.
 The basic kinds of meter
Examples Name of foot Name of
meter
In-ter, the sun Iamb Iambic Duple
En-ter, went to Trochee trochaic Meter
In-ter-vene Anapest Anapestic Triple
In a hut
En-ter-prise Dactyl Dactylic Meter
Co-lor of
True-blue spondee spondaic

truth Monosyllabic
foot
 The Line
 Monometer  one foot
 Dimeter  two feet
 Trimeter  three feet
 Tetrameter  four feet
 Pentameter  five feet
 Hexameter  six feet
 Heptameter  seven feet
 Octameter  Eight feet
The process of measuring verse 
scansion
 We identify the prevailing foot
 We number the number of feet in a line
 We describe the stanza pattern
 The uses of rhythm and meter
 Rhythm works as an emotional stimulus
and serves, when used well.
 To heighten out attention to and
awareness of what is going on in a poem.
 The poet can adapt the sound of verse to
its content and thus make meter a
powerful reinforcement of meaning.
 A Today’s group work
 Read if everything happens that can’t be
done.
 Scan the poem for its foot.
 Scan the poem for its line
 Explain the emotion and the poet’s
reinforcement of meaning of the poem.