Here are some famous examples of meter:

The term stanza is similar to strophe, though strophe sometimes refers to an irregular set of lines, as opposed to regular, rhymed stanzas. The stanza in poetry is analogous with the paragraph that is seen in prose; related thoughts are grouped into units.

Rhythm refers to the overall tempo, or pace, at which the poem unfolds, while meter refers to the measured beat established by patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables.

• Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (iambic pentameter)
• Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, (trochaic octameter)
• Out, damned spot!
• The itsy, bitsy spider (iambic trimeter)
• Stop all the clocks, / Cut off the telephone (dactylic dimeter)

Qualitative meter is characterized by stressed syllables coming at regular intervals—such as the consistent flow of five iambs in a line of a Shakespearean sonnet. Quantitative meter, by contrast, is built on patterns based on syllable weight rather than stress.

Meter is a unit of rhythm in poetry, the pattern of the beats. It is also called a foot. Each foot has a certain number of syllables in it, usually two or three syllables. The difference in types of meter is which syllables are accented or stressed and which are not.

English poetry employs five basic rhythms of varying stressed (/) and unstressed (x) syllables. The meters are iambs, trochees, spondees, anapests and dactyls.

Classification

A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes an object or action in a way that isn’t literally true, but helps explain an idea or make a comparison. Metaphors are used in poetry, literature, and anytime someone wants to add some color to their language.

Types of Poetic Meter

• Iambs (unstressed-stressed)
• Trochees (stressed-unstressed)
• Spondees (stressed-stressed)
• Dactyls (stressed-unstressed-unstressed)
• Anapests (unstressed-unstressed-stressed)

As with narrative, there are “elements” of poetry that we can focus on to enrich our understanding of a particular poem or group of poems. These elements may include, voice, diction, imagery, figures of speech, symbolism and allegory, syntax, sound, rhythm and meter, and structure.

In the countable sense, a verse is formally a single metrical line in a poetic composition. However, verse has come to represent any division or grouping of words in a poetic composition, with groupings traditionally having been referred to as stanzas.

Quatrain

Nine-line stanza (for example ababbcbcc, it is Spenserian stanza) Ten-line stanza (for example ababccdeed)

Quintain

septet

tercet

A three line stanza is called a tercet. A four line stanza is a quatrain, and a five line stanza is a quintet. Two other common lengths are a sestet, six lines; and an octave, eight lines. For instance, you might break a fourteen line poem into three quatrains and a couplet, or into an octave and a sestet.

couplet

decastich

A poem or stanza with one line is called a monostich, one with two lines is a couplet; with three, tercet or triplet; four, quatrain. six, hexastich; seven, heptastich; eight, octave. Also note the number of stanzas. In poetry these patterns are called meter, which means ‘measure’.

sestain

Triolet. A triolet is a repeating form poetry that has a bad reputation because it’s difficult to write and often focuses on nature. It is only seven lines long, with the first line repeated in lines 3 and 5. Line 2 is repeated in line 6, and it follows a ABaAabAb rhyme scheme.

cinquain

line break

Teddy Poem