3/29/2024 0 Comments Sonnet definitionMeter A line of poetry may have from one to eight metric feet. Iambic Pentameter The most common line of poetry in English is iambic pentameter, like these lines from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130: I LOVE to HEAR her SPEAK, yet WELL I KNOW That MUSic HATH a FAR more PLEASing SOUND Still More Poetic Feet Other feet of three or four syllables exist for every possible combination of stressed and unstressed syllables, but they are seldom used. īasic Poetic Feet There are four basic feet used in English poetry: FOOT PATTERN EXAMPLE iamb x / aLONE trochee / x ONly anapest x x / in a DREAM dactyl / x x MEMoriesĪdditional Poetic Feet The following feet, which obviously cannot be used alone in a poem, are often substituted for one of the basic feet: FOOT PATTERN EXAMPLE pyrrhic x x of the spondee / / OLD LOVES tribrach x x x of a re- molossos / / / MOTE LOST LAND An iamb is a metric foot (one unit of meter or rhythm in a poem) that includes an unstressed syllable (represented by an x ) followed by a stressed syllable (represented by a / ), as in the word aLONE. Iambic Meter This pattern of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables is the most common in English poetry. For example, the word imagination is pronounced with stresses on the second and fourth syllables (stressed syllables are capitalized): i-MA-gi-NA-tion. Stresses In English, and most European languages, words of more than one syllable alternate stressed and unstressed syllables.
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