Poetic Meter and Other Verse Forms

(To get the unstressed syllables to display in html, for now I'm using the tilde instead of the half-circle unstressed mark normally used in scanning meter. If I find the right code for the unstressed mark, I'll change it.)

The most common form of meter in English is iambic pentameter: ˜´ ˜´ ˜´ ˜´ ˜´

By our first strange and fatal interview
By all desires which thereof did ensue,
By our long starving hopes, by that remorse
Which my words masculine perswasive force
Begot in thee, and by the memory
Of hurts, which spies and rivals threatened me,
I calmly beg…

Verse Forms

Ballad

a quatrain (four-line stanza) with a rhyme scheme of xaxa or abab and alternating tetrameter and trimeter lines. Ballads are generally narrative poems with many stanzas. A good example is the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Coleridge.

Villanelle

all stanzas of a villanelle are tercets (three-line stanzas) except the final quatrain. The first and last lines of the first stanza are repeated as the last lines of each alternate stanza, with the following rhyme scheme (where capital letters indicate a repeated line): A1bA2, abA1, abA2, abA1, abA2... Usually there are four tercets after the first stanza, but there can be more pairs that follow the same pattern. The final quatrain is rhymed as follows: abA1A2.

Sestina

The sestina has six six-line stanzas. The final words of the initial stanza are repeated in each subsequent stanza by using the last word in the previous stanza to end the first line, then the first line of the previous stanza, the second-to-last line, the second line, the third-to-last line, and the third. Six repetitions results in using every combination of last lines. Most sestinas end with a three line closing stanza, where all six words are used in any order (three at the end of the line and three in the middle of the lines).

Sonnet

Sonnets are a fourteen line form, often broken into two parts: an octet and a sestet. (Eight lines and six lines, respectively.) Some sonnets are further broken into two quatrains and two tercets. There are two common rhyme schemes: the Italian or Petrarchan, abbaabba cdecde (where the three rhymes of the final sestet can come in any order), and the Englis or Shakespearean, ababcdcdefefgg. Generally, sonnets in English use iambic pentameter. Though other line lengths are possible, the lines should be consistent. Sonnets usually have a volta or turn at the beginning of the sestet, where a contrast is introduced. A strong conclusion in the final two lines often resolves the differences.

Blank Verse

is composed of unrhymed iambic pentameter lines. There is no fixed stanza length. The example I gave you was from Milton's Paradise Lost.

Types of Rhyme

End Rhyme

As you might guess, this is when the rhyme words are at the end of the line. Generally, end rhyme causes the reader to expect a pattern or rhyme scheme.

Internal Rhyme

This is where words within a line rhyme with one another or where the rhyme words are in the middle of two adjacent lines.

Circular Rhyme

This is when a word at the end of one line rhymes with the word at the beginning of the next (or rarely the previous) line.

Alliteration

While technically not rhyme, this is another technique for structuring sound in a line by repeating the same sound at the beginning of several words. Alliteration can use vowels or consonants. Example: The lazy leopard languidly lolled across the lane.

Assonance

This is the repetition of vowel sounds in a line or lines of a poem. These vowel sounds may be in the middle of the word or at the beginning or end. Example: Open the window or no one will go in.

Consonance

This is the repetition of consonant sounds in a line or lines of a poem. these consonant sounds may be at the beginning, middle or end of a word. Example: Eleven lemurs haled from Lithuania

Alternatives to Meter

Anglo Saxon Verse

This form did not use meter at all, but simply counted four strong stresses in a line. It also relied on alliteration across a line, rather than rhyme.

Alexandrine

This is a form used in French poetry (and other Romance languages) that has 12 syllables in each line. Stress is considered, but there isn’t a strict metric foot, as in English prosody.

Syllabic Verse

Can be verse form that counts the number of syllables, rather than the stresses to determine the line. The poet Marianne Moore developed highly structured syllabic lines.

Tanka

This is one Japanese stanza form that has five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 syllables each. Each line should be centered around one image.

Haiku

This is based on the last part of the Tanka stanza, and has three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables each. A good haiku should be meditative, image centered, and contain one seasonal word.

Concrete poetry

In this form, the visual shape of the poem on the page becomes more important than the structure of the sentences or lines when determining the form. In its purest state, the poem looks like the subject. Other poets have been influenced by concrete poetry to create different shapes on the page and confound our expectations of reading left to right and top to bottom.

Free verse

In free verse, the form develops organically from its subject. Meter isn't adhered to, nor are syllables counted necessarily. End rhyme is usually not used. However, sound and rhythm are still important parts of the composition. A free verse poet doesn't work without form, but invents a new form for each new poem.