Poetry Meters and Feet Quiz

Structural Elements in Poetry

• Poetry uses language to evoke emotions, convey ideas, and paint vivid descriptions.
• Poetry is typically structured with a pattern and may include rhymes.
• Key structural elements in poetry include: verse, line, stanza, rhyme, and meter.

Verse

• Verse refers to various parts of a poem, including a single line, a stanza, or the entire poem.
• Three types of verse exist: rhymed verse, blank verse, and free verse.

Rhymed Verse

• Rhymed verse is the most common type.
• It typically has a metrical form that rhymes throughout.

Blank Verse

• Blank verse is described as having a metrical form but no rhyme.

Free Verse

• Free verse is described as having no set meter but may or may not be rhymed.

Line

• A line is a single row of text in a poem.

Stanza

• A stanza is composed of multiple lines.
• Types of stanzas include Monostich, Couplet, Tercet, Quatrain, Quintain, Sestet, Septet, and Octave.

Rhyme

• Rhyme often refers to the shared sound of words at the end of two verses, which creates a poem's rhythm.
• Types of rhyme include:
  • End rhyme
  • Internal rhyme
  • Eye rhyme
  • Slant rhyme
  • Identical rhyme
  • Rich rhyme

End Rhyme

• End rhyme occurs at the end of a line, either the final word or syllable.
  • Example: "Roses are red, violets are blue, Sugar is sweet, and so are you."

Internal Rhyme

• Internal rhyme involves rhyming words within the same line of verse.
  • Example: "I drove myself to the lake and dove into the water."

Eye Rhyme

• Eye rhyme involves words that look the same but sound different.
  • Example: "through" and "rough", "Christ" and "wrist"

Slant Rhyme

• Slant rhyme involves the repetition of similar consonant or vowel sounds.
  • Example: "consonance" and "contra", "crate" and "braid"

Rich Rhyme

• Rich rhyme involves words that are pronounced the same but not spelled the same and have different meanings.
  • Example: "vary" and "very", "break" and "brake"

Identical Rhyme

• Identical rhyme simply uses the same word twice, although in some cases the repeated word refers to a different meaning.
  • Example: "There must be a better way, No barriers do I see in the way."

Meter

• Meter refers to the pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables.

• Meter helps create rhythm and musicality in poetry.

• A foot is the basic unit of measurement of meter.

• Metrical feet include:

  • Monometer - 1 foot
  • Dimeter - 2 feet
  • Trimeter - 3 feet
  • Tetrameter - 4 feet
  • Pentameter - 5 feet
  • Hexameter - 6 feet
  • Heptameter - 7 feet
  • Octameter - 8 feet

• Prosody is the study of meter or the arrangement of beats (and how many there are).

• Stressed syllables are strong syllables, marked with a forward slash (/). They are usually long, have a pitch change, and have full vowel sounds. Example: house (/)-unstressed ("-") is shorter and often have a reduced vowel sound.

• Accented syllables are pronounced slightly louder and with a higher pitch than unaccented syllables.

• Unaccented syllables are pronounced slightly softer and with a lower pitch than accented syllables.

Types of Metrical Feet

• Two Syllables:

  • Iamb (unstressed, stressed)
  • Trochee (stressed, unstressed)
  • Spondee (stressed, stressed)
  • Pyrrhic (unstressed, unstressed)

• Three Syllables:

  • Anapest (unstressed, unstressed, stressed)
  • Dactyl (stressed, unstressed, unstressed)
  • Amphibrach (unstressed, stressed, unstressed)

Examples of Metrical Feet

• Dimeter: Train chugs onwards.
• Trimeter: The mouse ran up the clock.
• Tetrameter: And tingle, and the heart is sick.
• Pentameter: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Syllable Count Examples

• One Syllable: house, well, near, drink, in, he, wow, and
• Two Syllables: parent, quiet, seldom, embrace, today, ahead
• Three Syllables: energy, operate, organize, tomato, assumption, fantastic, volunteer, personnel, Japanese
• Four Syllables: psychology, evaporate, certificate, politician, individual, reputation

Additional Information

• Examples of the various types of rhyme patterns, and examples using various feet are included.
• There are also examples of U.S. vs. U.K. spelling and different stanza structures.
• Students should use an entire pad of paper for the creative activity.