Rhythm

Meter and Scansion of Poetry

Types of Feet

• Iambic

• Trochaic

• Anapestic

• Dactylic

• Whose woods/ these are/ I think/ I know

• Tyger,/ Tyger,/ burning/ bright

• Anniver/sary Waltz

• Dracula,/ count of the/ darkness

Types of lines

• Monometer one foot• Dimeter two feet• Trimeter three feet• Tetrameter four feet• Pentameter five feet• Hexameter six feet• Octameter eight feet

• Trimeter, tetrameter and pentameter are the most common.

• Tetrameter can also be called quadrameter

• Blank verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Let’s try Scanning

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Is hung with bloom along the bough

And stands about the woodland ride

Wearing white for eastertide.

Scanning

Loveliest/ of trees, /the cher/ry now

Is hung/with bloom/along/the bough

And stands/about/the wood/land ride

Wearing/white for/easter/tide.

Scanning

Loveliest/ of trees, /the cher/ry now

Is hung/with bloom/along/the bough

And stands/about/the wood/land ride

Wearing/white for/easter/tide.

1 Dactyl, iamb, iamb, iamb 2 four iambs

3 four iambs 4 three trochees and an extra stress

Scanning

Loveliest/ of trees, /the cher/ry now

Is hung/with bloom/along/the bough

And stands/about/the wood/land ride

Wearing/white for/easter/tide.

Iambic tetrameter

Scan the next stanza

Now of my threescore years and ten,

Twenty will not come again,

And take from seventy springs a score

It only leaves me fifty more

Describe the rhythm

Now of/ my three/score years/and ten,

Twenty/will not/ come a/gain,

And take/from sev/enty springs/a score

It on/ly leaves/me fif/ty more

Describe the rhythm

Now of/ my three/score years/and ten,

Twenty/will not/ come a/gain,

And take/from sev/enty springs/a score

It on/ly leaves/me fif/ty more

1 iambic tetrameter 2 trochaic tetrameter with stress only on last foot 3 iambic tetrameter with 3rd foot anapestic 4 iambic tetrameter.

You can feel changes in rhythm• Although getting good at scanning takes

a lot of practice and comes to very few people easily, you can easily hear changes in rhythm.

• Compare the two versions of various poems on the next few screens. I’ll bet you can tell when the rhythm has been ruined.

Which one is the original

She dwelt among untrodden ways

Beside the blue waters of Dove.

A Maid whom there were none to praise

And very few to love.

She dwelt among untrodden ways

Beside the springs of Dove.

A Maid whom there were none to praise

And very few to love. 

Answer

• The one on the right.

Which one is the original?

Nature’s first green is gold

Her hardest hue to hold.Her early leaf’s a flower;But only so an hour.

Nature’s first green is gold,

Her most difficult hue to keep hold of.

Her early leaf’s a flower;But only so an hour.

Answer

• The one on the left.

Which one is the original?

Tyger, Tyger burning bright.

In the forests of the night

Tyger, Tyger burning bright

In the woods of the night

Answer

• The one on the left.

Which one is the original?

Knives can harm you, heaven forbid;

Axes may disarm you, kid;

Guillotines really hurt, but

There’s nothing like a paper cut!

Knives can harm you, heaven forbid;

Axes may disarm you, kid;

Guillotines are painful, but

There’s nothing like a paper cut!

Answer

• The one on the right.

Which one is the original?

I cannot dance upon my toes

No teacher instructed me.

But often, in my imagination

A Glee possesses me.

I cannot dance upon my toes

No man instructed me

But oftentimes, among my mind

A Glee possesses me.

Answer

• The one on the right.