Rhythm and Meter

Accentual verse

Verse whose meter is determined by the number of stressed syllables - regardless of the total number of syllables in each line.

Blank verse

Unrhyming iambic pentameter.

Cadence

The patterning of rhythm in natural speech, or in poetry without a distinct meter.

Foot

The basic unit of measurement of accentual-syllabic meter.

Usually contains one stressed syllable and at least one unstressed syllable.

Iamb

A metrical foot consisting of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable.

Quantitative meter

When rhythm depends on the length of time it takes to utter a line.

This duration depends on whether a syllable is long or short.

Accentual-syllabic verse

Verse whose meter is determined by the number and alternation of its stressed and unstressed syllables, organised into feet.

The total number of syllables within each line is fixed.

Caesura

A stop or pause in a metrical line, often marked by punctuation or by a grammatical boundary, such as a phrase or clause.

End-stopped

A metrical line ending at a grammatical boundary or break, such as a dash or closing parenthesis, or with punctuation such as a colon, semi-colon, or full stop.