Meter

Meter is the rhythmical pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse. The predominant meter in English poetry is accentual-syllabic.

via Wikipedia

See also: accentual meter, syllabic meter, and quantitative meter. Falling meter refers to trochees and dactyls (i.e., a stressed syllable followed by one or two unstressed syllables).


Example

excerpt from "Final Poem" by Phillip B. Williams:

Heptameter
1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7:
In the/begin/ing, I/suspect/my in/dex is/on fire.

Hexameter
1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6:
Daystart/ spasmod/ic with/ hunger,/my dull/teeth catch

Heptameter
1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7:
on pale/ figures/vowel/ing from/an em/pty heav/en. God

Hexameter
1: 2: 3: 4: 5. 6:
been left,/bored too/ with ran/som for/ art, al/lusions


Prompt

Look back at older poems and look for recurring words and themes. Pick out five two-syllable words as follows:

  • Trochee–a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. DUH-da.

    • Example: HIGHway

  • Iamb- an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. da-DUH

    • Example: proVIDE

  • Spondee: two stressed syllables:

    • TOOTHBRUSH

Create a word bank of 15 words and use the words to write a new poem in Iambic or Trochaic pentameter. (Pentameter is a line that consists of ten syllables.)


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