METE

R
 METER
● Helps emphasize or clarify ideas and can set a
mood that supports an author’s message
● Poets carefully calculate the effects of each
word
● Supports meaning & rhythm
● Use the guided notes to follow along!
 Understanding
Syllables...
● What is a syllable? How you pronounce a word and how it’s
organized by its units
○ Eagles has 2 syllables...EA-gles
○ English has 2 syllables...ENG-lish
○ Understand has 3 syllables...UN-DER-stand
● Stressed syllables (syllable sounds emphasized)
● Unstressed syllables (syllable sounds relaxed)
● Poets play off of words and their syllables to form a pattern.
 Meter pg.
311pattern
● Meter: a regular
Stressed
of stressed and
unstressed syllables
● Poetic Feet: units or
Unstressed
groups of syllables; At
least 2 syllables
Practice with Stressed and
Unstressed Syllables
Joker Coker
JO-ker CO-ker

JO-ker CO-ker
● Meter: a regular pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables
Meter
● Poetic Feet: units or groups of syllables
● 6 types of Poetic Feet:
pg.
● Iambic 311
re-MOTE
● Trochaic JO-ker
● Anapestic in-ter-RUPT
● Dactylic HEA-ven-ly
● Spondaic HEART-
BREAK
Practice with Stressed and
Unstressed Syllables
Joker Coker
JO-ker CO-ker

JO-ker CO-ker

Trochaic
 Sets =
Foot/Feet Meter
Patterns
The number of how
many sets of the
poetic feet (syllable
pattern) are in a
line, determines the
type of meter!
Practice with Stressed and
Unstressed Syllables
Joker Coker Trochaic
JO-ker CO-ker (2 sets of the
pattern) =

JO-ker CO-ker
Dimeter
MOST COMMON
EXAMPLE:
Iambic
Pentameter
5 groups of feet
(pentameter) +
Unstressed
syllable followed
by a stressed
syllable is iambic
 Example
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

But SOFT! what LIGHT through YON der WIN dow

BREAKS?
1 2 3 4
5

5 sets of the iambic pattern =

iambic pentameter
Summary Foot Chart
Understanding
Meter Practice
 Practice

1. Picture yourself in a boat on a river.

2. And today that great Yertle, that marvelous he

3. Amazing grace how sweet the sound

4. These growing feathers plucked from Caesar’s wings.

5. Tell me not in mournful numbers.

 Practice Answers
Dactylic Tetrameter
1. Picture yourself in a boat on a river.

2. And today that great Yertle, that marvelous heAnapestic Tetrameter

3. Amazing grace how sweet the sound Iambic Tetrameter

4. These growing feathers plucked from Caesar’s Iambic

wings.Pentameter

5. Tell me not in mournful numbers. Trochaic Tetrameter