This is the first of three articles treating on the subject of scansion and meter in poetry. Here I explain and provide concrete examples demonstrating the two most common metrical feet in English prosody, the iamb and the trochee. But first I delve into some observations of how contemporary poets often eschew learning–or even talking–about meter in poetry.

Background

It seems to me that most poets today do not appreciate the power of meter in poetry. When experimented with, it tends to be just that, an experiment and nothing more. Today’s poets rarely–if ever–use meter for its emotive capabilities and rhythmic potentials.

In fact, many poets seem even to harbor real animosity towards certain–if not all–aspects of English prosody. I’m not sure why this is. It has occurred to me that this resistance could come from feeling that devices such as the iamb and the trochee are rules being forcibly imposed upon them. If so, this should not be the case—these are simply tools in a large toolbox of techniques, methods, and styles.

Perhaps it’s not necessary to know anything at all about meter to write strong poetry, but I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that it really helps. I’ll even go a step further and say that meter is an invaluable tool in the process of discovering ways to create poignant poetic expressions.

Overview

Information about the iamb and the trochee from a purely technical standpoint is actually abundant, yet there are very few examples that really demonstrate how they can be used in diverse structures. Starting with the iamb, I will tell you precisely what the iamb and trochee are, and then I’ll exemplify them in detail so that they may be seen to work functionally.

They are each a type of verbal metrical unit known as a foot. The concept of a metrical foot in poetry is not actually native to English prosody; it is borrowed from ancient treatises on Greek prosody. In Greek prosody, there are several types of feet, most of which probably do not apply to English. In fact, those types of feet commonly discussed in English prosody have already been modified from their quantitative (length of syllable—another topic entirely) Greek counterparts. In English, feet are formed not from syllable length, but from accented (also pitched or stressed) and unnaccented (also flat or unstressed) syllables. Now, with all this in mind, we can meaningfully define these two types of feets and provide examples.

The Iamb

The iamb is a foot consisting of one unaccented syllable followed by one accented syllable—irrespective of syllable length. The iamb, as with all metrical feet, can be comprised of a single word or parts of words, as will be exemplified below.

Classical English prosody used a slash [/] and an uppercase u [U] to indicate accented [/] and unaccented [U] syllables. I have over time developed my own notation, which I use as syllable placeholders when writing metered poetry. To notate unaccented syllables I use the period [.], and for accented syllables I use the dash [–]. For my brain, and hopefully for yours as well, this is much easier and less distracting to follow.

Iambic Examples

Let’s now look at the iamb as used in actual line structures. Following are eight examples of strictly iambic lines, starting from the shortest possible line containing an iamb–a single iamb–to a line containing eight iambic feet. After each example line below, I provide its notation and a parenthesized division of the line’s iambs followed by some notes.

Here’s a line containing a single iambus:

Here’s a line containing two iambic feet. Two-foot lines are referred to as a “dimeters” (nounal) or “dimetric” (adjectival), so this line is an iambic dimeter:

Here’s a line containing three iambic feet. Three-foot lines are referred to as “trimeters” or “trimetric”, so this line is an iambic trimeter:

Here’s a line containing four iambic feet. Four-foot lines are referred to as “tetrameters” or “tetrametric”, so this line is an iambic tetrameter:

Here’s a line containing five iambic feet. Five-foot lines are referred to as “pentameters” or “pentametric”, so this line is an iambic pentameter:

The iambic pentameter is thought to be the most commonly used meter in English poetry. This is probably true. Heavy users of iambic pentameter include Shakespeare, John Milton, and Robert Service. There are of course many, many more.

Here’s a line consisting of six iambic feet. Six-foot lines are referred to as “hexameters” or “hexametric”, so this line is an iambic hexameter:

The hexameter was as popular in Hellenistic (ancient Greek) poetry as the pentameter has been in English poetry. But, keep in mind that Greek is not an accented language. The iamb in Greek pertained to a short and a long syllable, not an unaccented and an accented syllable.

Once lines get to about this length, it is common for there to be a natural pause somewhere therein. In this line that pause is occurring between the words “dreams” and “among”. This pause, wherever it occurs, is called the caesura (see ‘syoor ah). Such pauses can be very brief, as with the caesura in this line, or they can be more pronounced. Caesurae can be used to verbally punctuate ideas and emotions in poetry by causing them to occur at locations that highlight key words and phrases. Bear in mind that while most people will naturally pause at about the same place within a line when reciting a poem, this will not be true of everyone.

Here’s a line consisting of seven iambic feet. Seven-foot lines are referred to as “heptameters” or “heptametric”, so this line is an iambic heptameter. They are also sometimes called by “septameters”:

Note that the caesura here is also occurring between the words “dreams” and “among”. You might find that the pause is slightly more pronounced this time. This would be because the first hemistich is longer by one foot. A hemistich (‘hem i ,stick) is that portion of a line of verse that occurs before and after the caesura. These can be talked about in terms of their own meter. For instance, the first hemistich of this line is an iambic tetrameter and the second is an iambic trimeter.

Here’s a line of eight iambic feet. You might guess how these are referenced—as “octameters” or “octometric”. So this line is an iambic octameter:

Notice how the 4^th, 7^th and 8^th feet split words. The words aren’t actually split when you read, just when analyzing the prosodic structure of the line. In this line the caesura also occurs after the fourth foot.

The dreaded octameter can be extremely overwhelming. I’ve only used this meter a handful of times myself. For instance, in my ghazal poem “My Love”. You’ll notice that this poem makes use of the caesura between the forth and fifth feet in order to allow for the option to breath while reading.

Trochaic Examples

The trochee (‘trow kee) is the exact inverse of the iamb. It is a foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by one unaccented syllable. As with the iamb, or any foot, the trochee can be comprised of a single word or parts of words. In the illustrating examples above and below, you’ll notice that I split several words between the parenthesized feet.

Here are eight examples of trochaic (trow ‘kay ik) lines, starting again from the shortest possible line containing a trochee, a single trochee, to a line containing eight trochaic feet.

First, a single trochee:

Here’s a line containing two trochaic feet. This is a trochaic dimeter:

Here’s a line containing three trochaic feet. This is a trochaic trimeter:

Here’s a line containing four trochaic feet. This is a trochaic tetrameter:

Here’s a line containing five trochaic feet. This is a trochaic pentameter:

Here’s a line consisting of six trochaic feet. This is a trochaic hexameter:

Here’s a line consisting of seven trochaic feet. This is a trochaic heptameter:

Here’s a line of eight trochaic feet. This is a trochaic octameter:

Note the presence of that the natural pause I mentioned above. It occurs in all the longer lines, starting with at least the hexameter. When a pause is very brief, I’ve heard this referred to as a soft caesura, and I’ve heard the longer and more pronounced pauses referred to as hard caesurae.

Note that in the trochaic octameter a hard caesura occurs just after the word “place”, causing the second half of the line to feel more iambic than trochaic. Prosody accounts for variation such as this. At some point, I plan to devote an article specifically to caesurae and hemistichs. These can in their own right be useful to understand.

In another article, “Discovering the Anapaest and the Dactyl”, I talk about the anapaest and the dactyl—close cousins of the iamb and the trochee—using this same approach.