´ ˘ trochee ´ ˘ ˘ dactyl ´ ´ spondee ˘ ˘ pyrrhic

Name Period
Meter: The typical rhythmic pattern of a poem.
Foot: The unit of rhythm in a line of poetry.
Poetic Meter and Scansion
Scansion: The division of verse into feet to determine the meter of a poem.
Feet Types
˘ ΄ iamb (the most common foot in English verse) ˘ ˘ ΄ anapest
΄ ˘ trochee ΄ ˘ ˘ dactyl
΄ ΄ spondee ˘ ΄ ˘ amphibrach
˘ ˘ pyrrhic
Lengths of Poetic Lines
monometer: one foot pentameter: five feet
dimeter: two feet hexameter: six feet
trimeter: three feet heptameter: seven feet
tetrameter: four feet octameter: eight feet
Thus, by scanning the lines of a poem, one arrives at its meter. The meter of a poem whose
dominant foot is the iamb, and whose lines commonly have five feet, is iambic pentameter. A line of
two trochees would be trochaic dimeter, six dactyls, dactylic hexameter; and so on.
Substitution: Using a foot which is different from the one typically used in a certain line or stanza. A
trochee, for example, used in an iambic pentameter line, would be a substitution.
Free verse: Poetry written without any tight metrical structure. Free verse has, instead of meter, a
looser kind of rhythm which produces its feeling of flow and unity.
Blank verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter. Shakespeare uses blank verse very often in his plays.
Rhyme scheme: The pattern of end-rhymes in a poem or stanza.
Half-rhyme, slant-rhyme, or off-rhyme: A rhyme that is close, but not perfect.
Quatrain: A group of four lines, linked by their end-rhymes, subject matter, or both.
Sestet: A group of six lines, as above.
Octave: A group of eight lines, as above.
Couplet: A pair of lines, in succession, that rhyme.
Harris, English IV

Name Period
Stanza: A group of lines set off by themselves in a poem. Properly speaking, all stanzas in a poem
have the same number of lines; if they don’t, they should be called irregular stanzas, sections, or even
verse paragraphs.
Sonnet: A fourteen-line, lyric poem with a single theme written in iambic pentameter. The sonnet was
invented by Italian poet Francesco Petrarch. Sonnets follow definite forms. The form is determined by
the type of sonnet.
The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave followed by a sestet. The octave is almost
always rhymed abbaabba; the sestet’s rhyme scheme is either cdecde, cdccdc, or cdedce. Often
the octave states a problem, and the sestet resolves it.
The Spenserian sonnet was invented by English poet Edmund Spenser. It consists of three
quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet. The rhyme scheme is abab/bcbc/cdcd/ee.
The English or Shakespearean sonnet has three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet. The
typical rhyme scheme is abab/cdcd/efef/gg. Usually the couplet comments epigrammatically on the
problem/situation presented in the three quatrains.
In a sonnet sequence, sonnets are linked by theme or person addressed.
Adapted from: C. Hugh Holman, A Handbook to Literature, Lynn Altenbernd and Leslie L. Lewis, A Handbook for the Study
of Poetry. Source: http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/sonnet.html
Source: Prentice Hall Literature: The British Tradition – unit 2
Harris, English IV