Scansion:
-is the act of scanning, or analyzing poetry in terms of its rhythmic components.
Poetic Foot:
- A poetic foot is a repeated sequence of rhythm comprised of two or more stressed and/or unstressed
syllables.
- A unit of stressed and unstressed syllables is called a “foot”.
-is the smallest measuring unit of rhythm.
Poetic Meter:
-Poetic meter is comprised of poetic feet.
-Meters are Patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables
-The basic unit of meter is a foot.
-Meters are the rhythms within poems.
- Meters are the arrangement of stressed/unstressed syllables to occur at apparently equal intervals.
Five main patterns to poetic feet / Most common feet in English poetry:

Iamb
/

Trochee
/

Anapest
/

Dactyl
/

Spondee
//
Iambic pattern/ Iambic foot / Iamb: (- / )
-The iamb = (1 unstressed syllable + 1 stressed syllable) is the most common poetic foot in English
verse.
-1 unstressed syllable followed by 1 stressed syllable.
- is a foot that has a rhythmic pattern.
- A unit of unstressed-STRESSED syllables (da-DUM) is called an iamb (or iambic foot).
•
EXAMPLES:
–
the sun ; belief (be-LIEF); complete (com-PLETE).
–
up-SET unstressed-STRESSED (da-DUM)
–
re-TAIN unstressed-STRESSED (da-DUM)
 /
–
/   / 
/
I asked my mo·ther for fif·ty cents
 /
–

 /  / x
/ 
/
To see the el·e·phant jump the fence.
Trochaic Pattern:
•
1 stressed syllable followed by 1 unstressed syllable
•
EXAMPLES:
–
speaking (SPEAK-ing)
–
value (VAL-ue)
Anapestic pattern:
•
2 unstressed syllables followed by 1 stressed syllable
•
EXAMPLES:
–
on the road
–
interrupt (in-ter-RUPT)
–
unabridged, contradict, engineer, masquerade, Galilee
Dactylic pattern:
•
1 stressed syllable followed by 2 unstressed syllables
•
EXAMPLE:
–
happiness (HAP-pi-ness)
–
galloping (GAL-lop-ing)
–
fortunate, Saturday, daffodil, murmuring, rhapsody
Spondaic Pattern:
•
All syllables have equal stress
•
EXAMPLE:
–
Heartbreak
–
“Out, out…”
–
"pen-knife," "ad hoc," "heartburn"
Metrical Lines/Combinations of Poetic Feet:
•
One foot per line: monometer .
•
Two feet per line : dimeter .
•
Three feet per line : trimeter
•
Four feet per line : tetrameter
•
Five feet per line : pentameter
•
Six feet per line : hexameter
Iambic Pentameter:
–
That pattern da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM is called “iambic pentameter.”
–
Or, the pattern  /  /  /  /  / is called “iambic pentameter”.
–
“Iambic” because the feet are iambic ( / /da-DUM).
–
“Pentameter” because there are five feet in a line.
–
Iambic pentameter is the meter used in sonnets, which are composed of 14 lines of
rhyming iambic pentameter.
–
Iambic pentameter is the closest poetic line to natural speech.
–
All of Shakespeare’s plays are written in unrhymed iambic pentameter (called “blank
verse.”
Stanzas:
•
2 line stanzas: couplets
•
3 line stanzas:

tercets

triplets: aaa bbb ccc ddd

terza rima: aba bcb cdc ded
•
4 line stanzas: quatrains
•
5 line stanzas: quintets
•
6 line stanzas: sestets
•
7 line stanzas: septets
•
8 line stanzas: octaves
Exercise:
•
Q: If a poem had 1 foot per line, and the foot was iambic (1 unstressed + 1 stressed), what type
of poem would it be?
•
Q: If a poem had 2 feet per line, and the foot was iambic (1 unstressed + 1 stressed), what type
of poem would it be?
•
Q: If a poem had 5 feet per line, and the foot was iambic (1 unstressed + 1 stressed), what type
of poem would it be?
Thank you.
Tareq Abu Musa
Lecturer in English
MC College, Sylhet.