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Meter

Types of Meter in English

Remember that meter is made up of metrical units, called Metrical Feet. Each Foot is made up of a group of stressed or unstressed syllabes. There are four standard metrical feet in English:

The Iambic Foot

An iamb has a light, followed by a stressed syllable. U / 

1st       2nd    3rd       4th         5th 
iamb      iamb   iamb      iamb        iamb
         |      |         |           |       |
  U    / |U   / | U    /  |  U      / |U   /  |
Whose mo-tive in this case should stir me most
This line has five feet, five iambs. Five feet in a line is called a pentameter, so this would be an iambic pentameter. It has a regular walking rhythm and is used often as it mirrors everyday speech. It was used extensively by Shakespeare in his plays.

Lines in iambic pentameter which do not rhyme are called blank verse.


The Anapestic Foot

The anapest has two light syllables followed by a stressed syllable. U U /
It is often used to give a sense of a galloping rhythm. 

1st        2nd           3rd        4th
anapest    anapest       anapest    anapest 
          |             |          |    
 U   U  / |U    U    /  | U  U   / |U   U    /
The As-syrian came down like a wolf on the fold.
This line has four feet, so it is a tetrameter, so this would be an anapestic tetrameter. It has a galloping rhythm and is used often for poems which have riders or horses in them, such as in war.

The Trochaic Foot

This has a stressed, followed by a light syllable. / U
The trochee gives a walking rhythm. 

1st       2nd     3rd     4th
trochee   trochee trochee trochee
         |       |       |
  /   U  | /   U | /  U  |/ 
Come, and trip it as you go.
This line has four feet, so it is a trochaic tetrameter, but the last foot is missing an unstressed syllable. This is quite common.

The Dactylic Foot

The dactyl is made up of a stressed, followed by two light syllables / U U 

1st dactyl    2nd dactyl
             |
 /    U    U |  /   U    U
Eve, with her bas-ket, was
There are two feet in this line so it is called a dimeter.

Exercise

Show the stressed and unstressed syllables in the following lines, and say what type of metrical foot is being used - remember to be flexible. Not every line will have a cut-and-dried meter.

  1. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
  2. Into the valley of death rode the six hundred.
  3. My Mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun.
  4. So nimbly with a marble heart.
  5. And quench its speed i'the slushy sand.
  6. Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain.
  7. Go and catch a falling star.
  8. Just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down.
  9. Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world.
  10. But at my back I always hear.
Did you notice that one type of meter predominated?

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