Metrics or Music in Poetry
The non-verbal musical
component of poetry is the most difficult to discuss. In some ways, our
reaction to rhythm and aesthetically beautiful sound combinations is too
immediate and fundamental to be explained in words. However, music plays a key
role in much of the poetry that was produced before the last fifty years. To
properly honor the majority of poetic efforts, we must therefore attempt to
verbally grasp this poetic element. In general, we choose to discuss different
aspects of poetry in the order Ideas, Situations, Language and Metrics. Nonetheless,
when discussing what distinguishes poetry from other forms of expression, we
speak in the reverse manner.
Regardless of the
dramatic settings or the concepts it expresses, a piece of writing is not
poetry if it is not notably rhythmical, sardonic, or metaphorical in its
language. Students, however, are not only the least knowledgeable about
poetry's meters, but are also the least engaged in it. One merely needs to ask
them to convert a few prose sentences into a straightforward, versified
counterpart to show this. For the majority, this will be exceedingly
challenging. It makes sense why they dislike poetry. They are unable to really
hear it. Fortunately, the basics of versification are somewhat teachable and
ought to be covered in a poetry program. These foundations are explained in a
straightforward manner with little use of specialized language.
All poetic rhythmic
effects are based on metrics. This indicates that accents and pauses play a big
role in English versification. The periods, commas, and other common
grammatical symbols are used to express the pauses, which are dictated by the
standard grammatical rules that regulate our speech and writing. But there is
an additional component. Each line's finish in a stanza is designated as
punctuation. We refer to a line as being end-stopped if it is punctuated
normally at the end. We refer to a line as run-on or enjambed if the final word
is followed by no punctuation and is a component of a continuous grammatical
unit like a prepositional phrase. End-stoked lines have tighter thinking units
because the line-end complements and reinforces the punctuation. The line-end
in enjambed lines works against the language's punctuation: something both more
and less the comma. Enjambment is necessary for poets who write in free verse
styles with irregular rhythms in order to give their words a unique poetic
flavor.
Lets consider the
little poem by Williams:
So much depends
Upon
A red wheel
Barrow
Glazed with rain
Water
Beside the white
Chickens.
If we write this out as
prose we get. So much depends upon a red wheelbarrow, glazed.
With rainwater, beside
the white chickens.
This is a simple
declarative prose sentence, with a couple of adjectival phrases, tacked on, set
off with commas. The free verse sentence uses its line-endings to work against
the prose movement, slowing it up, and providing a metrical equivalent for the
visual highlighting of the images.
Lets consider another
example by e.e. cummings in this poem:
Pity this busy monster,
manunkind,
Not
Consider it rearranged
as plain prose:
Pity this busy monster,
manunkind, not.
Or more prosaically: do
not pity this busy monster, manunkind.
Or still; more
prosaically,
Do not pity this busy,
unkind monster, man.
By unraveling the
poetical arrangement and combination of the words, we have destroyed the force
of the admonition, taking away its suspense and eliminating the recoil in the
original last word. In verse that is
not markedly rhythmical, unusual pauses and arrangements of words are principal
metrical device. In verse that is regularly rhythmical, however, the rhythm or
meter itself is the crucial metrical element.
Poetical arrangement
does something to prosaic language, but not so much as does rhythm, which lifts
an utterance and moves it in the direction of music. Just as the line-end
pauses in a poem can work with or against the normal grammatical pauses of
speech and prose, poetic rhythm can work both with and against our normal
pattern of pronunciation. See the pronunciation of the ‘defense.’
Meter is a unit of
rhythm in poetry, the pattern of the beats. It is also called a foot. Each foot
has a certain number of syllables in it, usually two or three syllables. The
difference in types of meter is which syllables are accented and which are
not.
Iamb Meter
Iamb meter has the
first syllable unaccented and the second accented. Here are examples:
That time l of year l
thou mayst l in me l behold
Shall I l com pare l
thee to l a sum l mer’s day? - Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18"
Come live | with me |
and be | my love
And we | will all | the
plea|sures prove - Christopher Marlowe’s “Come live with me and be my love”
All I could see from
where I stood
Was three long
mountains and a wood; - Edna St. Vincent Millay’s "Renascence"
To swell the gourd, and
plump the hazel shells - John Keats’ “To Autumn”
Trochee Meter
Trochee meter has the
first syllable accented and the second unaccented. Here are examples:
Tell me | not in l
mournful l numbers
By the | shores of |
Gitche | Gumee,
By the | shining |
Big-Sea-|Water - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Song of Hiawatha”
(I could) wait forever,
Face a thousand lifetimes, Ponder your embraces, Just to live in your time.
Why so pale and wan,
fond Lover?
Prithee why so pale?
Will, when looking well
can't move her,
Looking ill prevail?
Prithee why so pale? -
Sir John Suckling's "Song"
The Grizzly Bear is
huge and wild;
He has devoured an
infant child.
The infant child is not
aware
Dactyl Meter
Dactyl meter has the
first syllable accented and the second and third unaccented. Here are examples:
This is the forest pri
meval, the murmuring 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”
We that had Loved him
so, Followed him Honoured him, - Robert Browning’s “The Lost Leader”
Half a league, half a
league
Half a league onward, -
Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade”
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
Anapest meter has the
first two syllables unaccented and the third syllable accented. Here are
examples:
And the sound l of a
voice l that is still
The Assyrian came down
like a wolf on the fold
And his cohorts were
gleaming in purple and gold Lord Byron’s “The Destruction of Sennacherib”
In the midst of the
word he was trying to say,
In the midst of his
laughter and glee,
He had softly and
suddenly vanished away—
For the Snark was a
Boojum, you see. Lewis Carroll, “The Hunting of the Snark”
Oh, Potter, you rotter,
oh, what have you done,
You’re killing off
students, you think it’s good fun. - Peeves’ Song from Harry Potter
His eyes are as green
as a fresh pickled toad - Harry’s valentine from Harry Potter
Iambic Pentameter
Iambic pentameter
refers to a certain kind of line of poetry, and has to do with the number of
syllables in the line and the emphasis placed on those syllables. Many of
Shakespeare’s works are often used as great examples of iambic pentameter.
Understanding
Iambic Pentameter
} When
we speak, our syllables are either stressed (stronger emphasis) or unstressed
(weaker emphasis). For example, the word remark consists of two syllables.
"Re" is the unstressed syllable, with a weaker emphasis, while
"mark" is stressed, with a stronger emphasis.
} In
poetry, a group of two or three syllables is referred to as a foot. A specific type
of foot is an iamb. A foot is an iamb if it consists of one unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed syllable, so the word remark is an iamb.
} Pent
means five, so a line of iambic pentameter consists of five iambs – five sets
of unstressed syllables followed by stressed syllables.
Using Iambic Pentameter
in Poetry and Verse
} Some
examples of iambic pentameter include:
} But,
soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
} It
is the east, and Juliet is the sun. (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)
} Her
vestal livery is but sick and green
} And
none but fools do wear it; cast it off. (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)
} And
I do love thee: therefore, go with me;
} I'll
give thee fairies to attend on thee,
} And
they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,
} And
sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep; (Shakespeare, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream)
A
brief exploration of the various aspects of sound that can be utilized when
making a poem. The crafting of the aural aspects of a poem is what we may call
"ear training." Thus, the crafting of the visual aspects is what we'd
call "eye training."
Poetic Feet
} There
are two parts to the term iambic pentameter. The first part refers to
the type of poetic foot being used predominantly in the line. A poetic
foot is a basic repeated sequence of meter composed of two or more accented or
unaccented syllables. In the case of an iambic foot, the sequence is
"unaccented, accented". There are other types of poetic feet commonly
found in English language poetry.
} The
primary feet are referred to using these terms (an example word from Fussell's
examples is given next to them):
} Iambic:
destroy (unaccented/accented)
} Anapestic:
intervene (unaccented/unaccented/accented)
} Trochaic:
topsy (accented/unaccented)
} Dactylic:
merrily (accented/unaccented/unaccented)
} The
substitutive feet (feet not used as primary, instead used to supplement and
vary a primary foot) are referred to using these terms:
} Spondaic:
hum drum (accented/accented)
} Pyrrhic:
the sea/ son of/ mists (the "son of" in the middle being
unaccented/unaccented)
} The
second part of defining iambic pentameter has to do with line length.
Line Length
} The
poetic foot then shows the placement of accented and unaccented syllables. But
the second part of the term, pentameter, shows the number of feet per
line. In the case of pentameter, there are basically five feet per line.
} The
types of line lengths are as follows:
} One
foot: Monometer
} Two
feet: Dimeter
} Three
feet: Trimeter
} Four
feet: Tetrameter
} Five
feet: Pentameter
} Six
feet: Hexameter
} Seven
feet: Heptameter
} Eight
feet: Octameter
} Rarely
is a line of a poem longer than eight feet seen in English language poetry (the
poet C.K. Williams is an exception).
Line
length and poetic feet are most easily seen in more formal verse. The example
above from D.G. Rossetti is pretty obviously iambic pentameter. And Rossetti
uses an accentual-syllabic meter to flesh out his poem with quite a bit
of success. What most free verse poets find more useful than this strict form
is accentual meter, where the accents only are counted in the line (although
when scanned, the syllables are still marked off...it is just that their number
is not of as much import.)
Summary
In
verse and poetry, meter is a recurring pattern of stressed (accented, or long)
and unstressed (unaccented, or short) syllables in lines of a set length. For
example, suppose a line contains ten syllables (set length) in which the first
syllable is unstressed, the second is stressed, the third is unstressed, the
fourth is stressed, and so on until the line reaches the tenth syllable. The
line would look like the following one (the opening line of Shakespeare’s
“Sonnet 18") containing a pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables.
The unstressed syllables are in blue and the stressed syllables in red.
} Shall
I com PARE thee TO a SUM mer’s DAY?
} Each
pair of unstressed and stressed syllables makes up a unit called a foot.
} The
line contains five feet in all, as shown next: ....1.............. 2.................3..............4................
5
Shall.I..|..com.PARE..|..thee.TO..|..a.SUM..|..mer’s
DAY?
} .......A
foot containing an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (as
above) is called an iamb.
} Because there are five feet in the line, all
iambic, the meter of the line is iambic pentameter.
} The prefix pent in pentameter
means five (Greek: penta, five). Pent is joined to words
or word roots to form new words indicating five.
} For example, the Pentagon in Washington has
five sides, the Pentateuch of the Bible consists of five books, and a
pentathlon in a sports event has five events.
} Thus,
poetry lines with five feet are in pentameter.
.......Some feet in verse and poetry have different stress patterns. For
example, one type of foot consists of two unstressed syllables followed by a
stressed one. Another type consists of a stressed one followed by an unstressed
one.
In
all, there are six types of feet:
|
Iamb
(Iambic) |
Unstressed
+ Stressed |
Two Syllables |
|
Trochee
(Trochaic) |
Stressed
+ Unstressed |
Two Syllables |
|
Spondee
(Spondaic) |
Stressed +
Stressed |
Two Syllables |
|
Anapest
(Anapestic) |
Unstressed +
Unstressed + Stressed |
Three
Syllables |
|
Dactyl
(Dactylic |
Stressed +
Unstressed + Unstressed |
Three
Syllables |
|
Pyrrhic |
Unstressed +
Unstressed |
Two Syllables |
The
length of lines—and thus the meter—can also vary. Following are the types of
meter and the line length:
|
Monometer |
One
Foot |
|||
|
Dimeter |
Two
Feet |
|||
|
Trimeter |
Three
Feet |
|||
|
Tetrameter |
Four
Feet |
|||
|
Pentameter |
Five
Feet |
|||
|
Hexameter |
Six
Feet |
|||
|
Heptameter |
Seven
Feet |
|||
|
Octameter |
Eight
Feet |