ANSWER KEY PART 1: Metrical Feet and Metrical Lines
Assume that each of the following is the first line of a different poem written in dactylic meter. For each line, 1) read the line aloud; 2) mark the
dactyls (/uu); 3) use slashes to divide the line into metrical feet; 4) determine the name of the metrical line (e.g., dactylic tetrameter).
/ uu
/ u u / u u
/ u u
/ u u
Poetry | challenges | us to be | perfectly | metrical.
1
2
3
4
5
[dactylic pentameter]
/ u u
/ u u
/ u u
/u u
/ u u
/ u u
Piggleton | Pinkerson | likes to eat | tuna and | mayonnaise | sandwiches.
1
2
3
4
5
6
[dactylic hexameter]
/ u u
/
u
u
/
u u
/ u u
Bully for | you! You’re the| best Spanish | matador!
1
2
3
4
[dactylic tetrameter]
/ u u
/ u
u
/
u
u
/ u u
/uu
Fabulous | window shades | may make your | living room | livable.
1
2
3
4
5
[dactylic pentameter]
/ u u
/ u u
/ u u
/ u u
/u u
/ uu /uu
Wonderful | mysteries | wait for us | all in the | city of | Indian | apolis. [dactylic heptameter]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
PART 1a
Print out at least two verses of Tennyson’s poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” The first two verses are below,
but you can do any verse. 1) Mark the dactyls. 2) Note which lines are truncated (catalectic). 3) What is the dominant
metrical line?
Stanza 1
/
u
u
/ u
u
Half a league, | half a league,
/
u
u
/
u
Line 2: second dactyl is truncated
Half a league | onward,
/
u
u
/ u
u
/
All in the | valley of | Death
/
u
u
/
u
u
Line 3: third dactyl is truncated
u
Rode the six | hundred.
/
Dominant metrical line: dactylic dimeter
/
u
u
Line 4: second dactyl is truncated
“Forward, the | Light Brigade!
This lesson is part of the online writing course THE LYRICAL LANGUAGE LAB and is copyrighted intellectual property.
Samples and excerpts used in the course are the sole property of and copyrighted by the credited authors.
Copyright © 2014 Renée M. LaTulippe. All rights reserved.
/
u
u
/
u
u
Charge for the | guns!” he said.
/ u
u
/ u
u
/
Into the | valley of | Death
/
u
u
/
Line 7: third dactyl is truncated
u
Line 8: second dactyl is truncated
Rode the six | hundred.
Stanza 2
/
u
u
/
u
u
“Forward, the | Light Brigade!”
/
u
u
/
u
u
Was there a | man dismayed?
/
u
u
/
u
u
Not though the | soldier knew
/
u
u
/
u
Someone had | blundered.
/
u
u
/
Line 4: second dactyl is truncated
u u
Theirs not to | make reply,
/
u
u
/ u
u
Theirs not to | reason why,
/
u
u
/
u
u
Theirs but to | do and die.
/ u
u
/ u
u
/
Into the | valley of | Death
/
u
u
/
u
Rode the six | hundred.
-Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Line 8: third dactyl is truncated
Line 9: second dactyl is truncated
This lesson is part of the online writing course THE LYRICAL LANGUAGE LAB and is copyrighted intellectual property.
Samples and excerpts used in the course are the sole property of and copyrighted by the credited authors.
Copyright © 2014 Renée M. LaTulippe. All rights reserved.