Recently I have been trying to understand, in a technical sense, what it is I do by ear alone. I have been writing and editing rhyming poems/stories in verse for quite a few years now and I know what sounds good but I've never really understood why it sounds good. Of course what I am talking about is
meter - the rhythm of language, our language.
Meters are regularized rhythms. An arrangement of language in which the accents occur at apparently equal intervals in time. Each
repeated unit of meter is called a
foot. A foot then is made up of two or more syllables that together make up the smallest unit of rhythm in a poem.
The easiest to way to explain, I think, is by example. In the English language there are five common feet...
Iamb– 2 syll - a-VOID; pre-TEND; the RUSH (unstressed followed by stressed)
Trochee– 2 syll - ON-ly; TO-tal (stressed followed by unstressed).
Spondee– 2 syll - SHOE-SHINE (equally accented).
Anapest- 3 syll - in-ter-VENE; for-a-WHILE (two unstressed followed by one stressed).
Dactyl-3 syll - MER-ri-ly; LOV-er boy (one stressed followed by two unstressed).
Rising MeterAnapaestic and
iambic meters are called rising meters because they move from an unstressed syllable to a stressed syllable.
Falling MeterTrochaic and
dactylic meters are called falling meters because they move from stressed to unstressed syllables.
RhythmRhythm can be measured in poetry in terms of stressed to unstressed syllables and it is measured in feet.
When we analyse the poem below -
The Old House we discover that it provides an example of
trochaic tetrameter. (tetrameter = 4 feet)
The Old House can be classified as
trochaic because each
foot consists of
2 syllables,
one accented syllable followed by one unaccented one.
You will also note that the last syllable is often omitted to end the line with an accented syllable or as you'll see in verse 1, the unaccented syllable commences the next line but doesn't interfere with the rhythm as we are expecting an unaccented syllable to follow the previous accented one.
In a trochaic line of verse, a line thus shortened is termed
catalectic (see verse 2 for a perfect example of this.)
The Old House in trochaic tetrameter. Driving /
on the /
country /
road With
heavy /
eyes in /
sleepy /
modeGhostly /
fingers /
creep to/
wardsThe
house with /
peeling /
weather/
boardsNestled /
snug be/
neath the /
hillPeeling /
paint from /
window/
sillFlakes like /
dandruff /
crack and /
fallEtched ne/
glect on /
every /
wallIf you'd like to continue analysing the rest of the poem, please feel free to do so.
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