Question

How can I determine the meter and rhythm of a poem? How do I know if a syllable is stressed or unstressed?

Answer 1

Basically, a stressed syllable is pronounced a little more loudly than an unstressed syllable.

(Broken Link Removed)

The meter IS the rhythm.
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/meter.html

Answer 2

http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/635.html

That was the poem in which I learned meter. It is hard to avoid the stress-unstress syllables.