Now what could I mean by that?� Well, especially in traditional poetry, the foot is the unit of measure equal to two adjacent syllables.� There are two types of syllables known to the English language:� stressed, and unstressed.� In your English class, you may remember reading a classic sonnet by William Shakespeare or John Keats, and hearing about iambic pentameter, and stressed and unstressed syllables.� Well, if you were confused, this lesson should help you out just a little bit.
The symbols generally used are:
Stressed - U
Unstressed - /
Now what makes a syllable stressed or unstressed?� Let's take the word "tonight".� Read the word out loud; sometimes it helps to say it slowly, and clap your hands for each separate sound that you hear.� If you say the word slowly, you can hear two syllables: to:NIGHT
Now which syllable do you "come down on"- that is stress, or say more heavily?� It should be the second syllable (NIGHT).� Still confused?� Don't despair - it is pretty hard to distinguish stressed/unstressed in the hubbub of everyday life.� I find that in this case the best resource is a dictionary.� Look up a word that you want to use - in many dictionaries, a dot separates each syllable, and an accent mark (') is to the right of the stressed syllable.
The word "tonight"is what is referred to in poetic circles as an IAMB - an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable.� Other words like this include: create, inspire.� Here are some other types of metric feet:
trochee: (stressed, unstressed) hungry, argue, snowman
dactyl:� (stressed, unstressed, unstressed) longitude, messages, miracle
anapest:� (unstressed, unstressed, stressed) by the edge, intertwine, in the end
spondee:� (stressed, stressed) trapdoor, new shoes, blind pig
Two syllables make up a metric foot.� A poem is made of lines, and a cluster of these lines together (in paragraph form, if you will) is called a stanza.� A poem with one foot per line is called monometer.� In addition, there are:
dimeter:� two feet per line
trimeter:� three feet
tetrameter:� four feet
pentameter: five feet
hexameter:� six feet
Both forms of terminology are then combined to describe the meter of the poet.� You may have heard that Shakespeare's sonnets are written in iambic pentameter.� This translates to 5 feet per linr, with each foot (iamb) consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by stressed.� You can visualize it in this example:
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
����� U� /�� U��� /�������� U�� /�� U� /����� U�������� /
Next Lesson:� I go into rhyme, repetition, and an introduction to sonnets.� Take care, and happy writing!
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