Meter - Measuring the Line Options

[Tinker]

Measuring the line
Meter is the rhythmic measure of a line of verse. There are different measures used in poetics. The four major measures are Accentual Verse, Syllabic Verse, Accentual Syllabic Verse and Quantitative Verse. Here is my simple understanding of the basics of meter. There are many more metric terms (rarely used and rarely understood) that I do not include here.

Accentual Verse measures heavy stresses without any specific pattern and sometimes measures unstressed syllables, but not always. This is folk verse, it carries the rhythm of normal speech. It might be described as written with 4 stresses or 3 stresses and 4 unstressed syllables. Podic Verse is rhymed Accentual Verse.

Syllabic Verse simply measures the line by number of syllables. A syllable is a unit of pronunciation uttered without interruption, It forms the whole or part of a word.

Japanese poetry measures the line by onji which means "sound syllable" for which there is no true translation in English, therefore we are reduced to simply counting syllables as we understand them. The Chinese and some other Asian poetics include the measure of pitch or tone in their count. This is language specific and impossible to duplicate in English and again we are left with the syllable. (Probably the accurate term for measurement, especially when emulating the Chinese forms, would be to count characters, but English doesn't use characters so we are back to the syllable).

Accentual Syllabic Verse and Quantitative Verse measure the line by dividing it into metric feet. Accentual Syllabic feet are made up of a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables and Quantitative Verse feet are made up of a combination of long and short syllables. In English, quantitative verse is sometimes difficult to discern and we transition to Accentual Syllabic by default which warps the intent a bit. Or we will often attempt to reduce to the lowest common denominator and simply count syllables, still a little warped.

A book I have found very helpful in the understanding of meter, specifically Accentual Syllabic meter, is Rules for the Dance by Mary Oliver, 1998, ISBN 0-395-85086-x.

It was the Greeks who were the first to measure and name poetic meters and we still refer to the various units of measure by their Greek names. Both accentual syllabic and quantitative use the same metric terms to indicate number of feet and syllabic combinations.

1 metric foot = mono meter
2 metric feet = dimeter
3 metric feet = trimeter
4 metric feet = tetrameter
5 metric feet = pentameter
6 metric feet = hexameter
7 metric feet = heptameter
8 metric feet = octameter
9 metric feet = nonometer
10 metric feet = decameter
11 metric feet = hendecameter
12 metric feet = dodecameter

Accentual Syllabic Patterns

u = unstressed syllable ---S = stressed syllable

uSu = amphibrach = for-ev-er
SuS= amphimacer = look and see
uuS = anapest = through the night
Suu = dactyl = hol-i-day
SuuS = choriamb = light in the east
uS = iamb = to-day
SS = spondee = 2 heavy stresses night-mare
Su = trochee = Moth-er
uu = pyrrhic or phirach = 2 unstressed syllables = of the
uuu = tribrach = 3 unstressed syllables


Try an excercise verse form to flex your metric muscles.


Quantitative Verse Patterns

s = short syllable L = long syllable

To show an example of long and short sounds, would be like the long sound in book vs the short sound of buck. I know it is suptle but if you listen very carefully you can hear the longer and shorter vowel sounds.

sLs = amphibrach = short syllable followed by a long syllable followed by a short syllable
ssL = anapest = 2 short syllables followed by a long syllable
Lss = dactyl =long syllable followed by 2 short syllables
sL = iamb = short syllable followed by a long syllable
LL = spondee = 2 long tresses
Ls = trochee = long syllable followed by short syllable
ss = phirach = 2 short syllables
sss = tribrach = 3 short syllables


Here are a couple of Links with more detailed examples on meter found at Poetry Free For All?
Handy Dandy Vestpocket Guide to Iambic Pentameter by HowardW at PFFA
Normative Meter, Two-Syllable Feet and Three-Syllable Feetby Howard Miller at PFFA