Rhythm and Meter in English Poetry
English poetry employs five basic rhythms of varying stressed (/) and unstressed (x) syllables. The meters are iambs, trochees, spondees, anapests and dactyls. In this document the stressed syllables are marked in boldface type rather than the tradition al "/" and "x." Each unit of rhythm is called a "foot" of poetry.
The meters with two-syllable feet are
- IAMBIC (x /) : That time of year thou mayst in me behold
- TROCHAIC (/ x): Tell me not in mournful numbers
- SPONDAIC (/ /): Break, break, break/ On thy coldgraystones, O Sea!
Meters with three-syllable feet are
- ANAPESTIC (x x /): And the sound of a voice that is still
- DACTYLIC (/ x x): This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlock (a trochee replaces the final dactyl)
Each line of a poem contains a certain number of feet of iambs, trochees, spondees, dactyls or anapests. A line of one foot is a monometer, 2 feet is a dimeter, and so on--trimeter (3), tetrameter (4), pentameter (5), hexameter (6), heptameter (7), and o ctameter (8). The number of syllables in a line varies therefore according to the meter.
“Twas the Night before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.
Continues…
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1854)
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Memorializing Events in the Battle of Balaclava, October 25, 1854
Half a league half a league, Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Half a league onward, Flash'd as they turn'd in air
All in the valley of Death Sabring the gunners there,
Rode the six hundred: Charging an army while
'Forward, the Light Brigade! All the world wonder'd:
Charge for the guns' he said: Plunged in the battery-smoke
Into the valley of Death Right thro' the line they broke;
Rode the six hundred. Cossack & Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke,
'Forward, the Light Brigade!' Shatter'd & sunder'd.
Was there a man dismay'd ? Then they rode back, but not
Not tho' the soldier knew Not the six hundred.
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply, Cannon to right of them,
Theirs not to reason why, Cannon to left of them,
Theirs but to do & die, Cannon behind them
Into the valley of Death Volley'd and thunder'd;
Rode the six hundred. Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse & hero fell,
Cannon to right of them, They that had fought so well
Cannon to left of them, Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Cannon in front of them Back from the mouth of Hell,
Volley'd & thunder'd; All that was left of them,
Storm'd at with shot and shell, Left of six hundred.
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death, When can their glory fade?
Into the mouth of Hell O the wild charge they made!
Rode the six hundred. All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
”The Raven”By Edgar Allen Poe [First published in 1845]
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,'
Continues…