Metric rhythm

What is the metre of a poem?

The pattern of stressed an unstressed syllables within verses.

How are different metres written?

The term is split into two parts, its metrical foot and the number of feet. For example, iambic pentameter utilises 5 (pent) iambs.

What are the six basic metrical feet? (U = unstressed X = stressed)

Iambs- UX rising rhythm

Trochees- XU falling rhythm

Pyrhhuses- UU

Spondees- XX

Anapests- UUX

Dactyls- XUU

Why is iambic pentameter the most common metre?

It mimics average english speech patterns

Give an example of how metre can be analysed using the witches from Macbeth

They are the only characters to speak in trochaic tetrameter. Their faster speech patterns with a metrical foot that is basically an inverted iamb (how all other characters bar the porter speak) makes them seem sinister and supernatural.