Poetry Terms

Scansion

• … is the art of scanning a line or poem for meter and foot.

• In a structured poem, each line has a specific number of feet in a specific meter.

Meter

• A “stressed syllable” is a syllable that is emphasised in speech.

• It is represented, in scansion, by a forward slash (“ / ”).

• An “unstressed syllable” is spoken with less emphasis and it represented, in scansion, by a curved line (“ u ”).

Which syllable is emphasized?• Meter (say, “MEE-ter”) /U

• Noah (say, NO-ah) /U• Theresa (say, ta-REE-sa) U/U• Doreece (say, do-REECE) U/

• Emphasis (say, EM-fa-sis) /UU

You try…

• Identify the emphasis in your full name with capitals and U’s and slashes.

• For example: MS a-MI-ro/ U / U

(Metric) Feet

• A foot is a pair or group of syllables that repeats itself.

• …like a pair of feet… walkin’ along…

Some standard feet…

• The iamb is a timeless classic.

• It’s suppose to best mimic natural speech.

• Shakespeare used it throughout his plays.

• One unstressed, followed by one stressed syllable.

The iamb

• U/

The anapest

• UU/• 2 unstressed folled by a stressed

The trochee [TRO-kee]

• /U• One stressed followed by an

unstressed.

The dactyl

• /UU• One stressed followed by two

unstressed.

Put foot and meter together…

Here are the first two lines of Romeo & Juliet:

Two households, both alike in dignityIn fair Verona, where we lay our scene.

• Copy them in your notes (double spaced).• Identify which syllables of these words are

stressed/ naturally emphasized.

What is the recurring foot?

• Iambic!

How many iambs are there?

• Five!

Naming the meter

1. Monometer2. Dimeter3. Trimeter4. Tetrameter5. Pentameter6. Hexameter7. Heptameter8. Octameter

So… five feet of iamb

• …is called…• IAMBIC PENTAMETER

• YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Limerick

• A limerick is a short comical poem with an aabba rhyme scheme.

• Limericks traditionally have 5 lines: two lines of anapestic trimeter followed by two lines of anapestic dimeter and conclude with one more line of anapestic trimeter.

Limerick

• How would it look if you scanned it? • Write it out in symbols in your notes.

UU/UU/UU/UU/UU/UU/UU/UU/UU/UU/UU/UU/UU/