Rhythm and Meter in English Poetry Notes

Basic Rhythms in English Poetry

English poetry uses five basic rhythms distinguished by stressed and unstressed syllables:

• Iambs
• Troches
• Spondees
• Anapests
• Dactyls

Meters

Each line in a poem consists of a specific number of "feet" made up of these rhythmic units (iambs, troches, spondees, dactyls, anapests).

• Monometer: One foot
• Dimeter: Two feet
• Trimeter: Three feet
• Tetrameter: Four feet
• Pentameter: Five feet
• Hexameter: Six feet
• Heptameter: Seven feet
• Octameter: Eight feet

The number of syllables per line varies based on the meter.

Examples of Meters

• Trochaic Monometer: One trochee (example: poem entitled "Freeze")
• Iambic Pentameter: Five iambs, ten syllables (example: "That time of year thou most in me behold.")
• Trochaic Tetrameter: Four trochees, eight syllables (example: "Tell me not in mournful numbers")
• Anapestic Trimeter: Three anapests, nine syllables (example: "And the sound of a voice that is still")
• Dactylic Hexameter: Six dactyls, 17 syllables (example: "This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks.") Note: A trochee often replaces the last dactyl in dactylic hexameter.