Asked by Jennifer

What is a poem's meter?

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
A poem’s meter is its regular pattern of stressed (strong) and unstressed (weak) syllables — the “beat” that gives a line its rhythmic shape. Meter is built from repeated units called feet and by how many feet appear in a line.

Key terms
- Foot: a repeating unit of stresses and unstresses (e.g., iamb = unstressed then stressed; trochee = stressed then unstressed).
- Common feet:
- Iamb (U /): be-LIEVE
- Trochee (/ U): TA-ble
- Anapest (U U /): in-ter-VENE
- Dactyl (/ U U): EL-e-phant
- Spondee (/ /): HEART-BREAK (two strong syllables)
- Line length: named by number of feet
- Monometer (1 foot), dimeter (2), trimeter (3), tetrameter (4), pentameter (5), etc.
- Typical meters in English: iambic pentameter (5 iambs per line), tetrameter, trimeter, etc.
- Variations: poets often substitute different feet, add or drop syllables, use caesura (a pause), or enjambment—so meter is a flexible, not absolute, rule.

How to identify a poem’s meter (simple method)
1. Read the line aloud naturally.
2. Mark which syllables are stressed (/) and unstressed (U).
3. Group the syllables into feet and see which foot repeats.
4. Count the feet to name the meter (e.g., five iambs = iambic pentameter).

Example (Shakespeare):
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Scanned: U / U / U / U / U /
So this is iambic pentameter (five iambs).

Difference from rhythm and free verse
- Meter is the formal pattern; rhythm is the poem’s overall temporal flow (including variations).
- Free verse usually has no regular meter.

If you want, give me a line and I’ll scan it for you.