Meter

CRAFT TERM
Written By The Poetry Lab

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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Resource written by:

Featured
Matthew Feinstein

is a neurodivergent poet from Tracy, California. He is currently pursuing an MFA at Randolph College. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in HAD, Heavy Feather Review, Drunk Monkeys, Rejection Letters, and elsewhere. He is the founding editor of Plum Recruit.

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