Patterns of Rhythm

(+ Types of Feet

  Iamb, Trochee, Anapest, Dactyl, Spondee)

Accent

in prosody, a rhythmically significant stress on the syllables of a verse, usually at regular intervals.

Foot

is the metrical unit by which line of poetry is measured

Iamb

(~ ')
(Unstressed, stressed)

~ '
Away

Trochee

(' ~)
(Stressed, unstressed)

' ~
Lovely

Anapest

(~~ ')
(Unstressed, unstressed, stressed)

~ ~ '
Understand

Dactyl

(' ~~)
(stressed, unstressed, unstressed)

' ~ ~
Desperate

Spondee

(' ')
(stressed, stressed)

' '
Dead set

Iambic Pentameter

a line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable, for example Two households, both alike in dignity.

Meter

refers to the rhythmic pattern of stresses occurring in a poem

Rhyme Scheme

the ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem or verse

Scansion

Consists of measuring the stressed in a line to determine its metrical pattern

Sprung Rhythm

a poetic meter approximating to speech, each foot having one stressed syllable followed by a varying number of unstressed ones

Pyrrhic

(~ ~)
(unstressed, unstressed)

~ ~ ~ ~
A horse, a horse!

monometer

one metrical foot

dimeter

a poetic line with two feet

trimeter

a poetic line with three feet

tetrameter

a poetic line with four feet

pentameter

a poetic line with five feet

hexameter

a poetic line with six feet

heptameter

a poetic line with seven feet

octameter

a poetic line with eight feet