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Meter in poetry refers to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Scanning is used to determine the meter, with each metric foot having a name and a specific pattern. Trochee, iamb, dactyl, and anapest are the most common in English poetry, with spondeus and amphimacer used occasionally. Each major metric foot can be linked to a poem in which it predominates.
Meter means “measure” and in poetry refers to the repeating pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in the lines of a poem. The unit of measurement in poetry is called a metric foot, which is a set of syllables, usually two or three, only one of which receives a strong accent.
Scanning is the name of the technique for determining the meter of a poem. When scanning poetry, people use a stroke (‘) to mark a strong accent and a breve (˘) to mark a weaker accent. Another way to describe a metric foot is to say that each is made up of a particular pattern of strong and weak stresses.
Each metric foot has a name:
Metric foot nameDescriptionExample Trochee2 syllables; strong weak peacock Giamb2 syllables; weak strongreprieveSpondee2 syllables; strong strong cat by Paul Dactyl3 syllables; strong weak weakness Anapest3 syllables; weak weak strongIllinoisAmphimacer3 syllables; strong weak strong M&M’s®
The trochee, iamb, dactyl and anapest are the ones in English that are most likely to form the main body of the feet in a poem. The Spondeus and Amphimacer are generally found as occasional substitutes for an odd-numbered foot here and there in a poem that is mostly composed of one of the other four feet mentioned.
One way to help remember each major metric foot is to link each one to a poem in which it predominates. For example, the trochee is the primary form in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Hiawatha”, in which the hero is introduced with the lines:
There old wrinkled Nokomis, nursed little Hiawatha…
Iambus is the main form in William Shakespeare’s plays. Here is an example from Julius Caesar:
The evil that men do lives after them; The good ones are often buried with their bones.
Dacytls are used to start the Mother Goose nursery rhyme:
Hippity hop at the barbershop…
Anapaests are well known to many from the poem generally attributed to Clement Moore and entitled “A Visit From St. Nicholas”, but also commonly known as “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”:
It was the night before Christmas, when not a single creature moved in the whole house, not even a mouse…
