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