Meter

Once a poet settles on a rhythm they would like to use, they can repeat this pattern a set number of times in a line. This repetition is known as a poem's meter. 

Introduction

If rhythm is the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables, then meter is the repetition of this arrangement throughout a composition. 

When a poem is recited out loud, the meter creates a pattern which provides a sense of comfort through repetition. However, poets can also change the meter of a composition at key moments to shock or startle the listener. 

Understanding Meter

To help us understand how meter works in poetry, let's begin with the word … begin. 

Begin is a 2-syllable word in which the stress is placed on the second syllable:

Okay, so here we have an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. 

In poetry, a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that will be repeated is known as a foot. When written, these feet are separated by a single upright line (|).

In this case, the particular type of foot we're looking at (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable) is called an iamb. 

A useful way to remember an iamb is to think of it like a heartbeat:

Now, as it turns out this particular meter of five iambs is quite popular. It is known as iambic pentameter, and it was the preferred meter of many English poets.

Shakespeare was particularly fond of iambic pentameter and used it in many of his poems and plays. Note how Romeo speaks in iambic pentameter when he first sees Juliet in the famous balcony scene:

Sticking to a meter like this creates a 'beat' for a poem. This beat becomes a satisfying puzzle for a poet to solve as they try different words and arrangements to see what fits best. 

Meter also creates a satisfying experience for the listener as they learn to anticipate stressed beats, much as we bob our head while listening to a catchy song. 

Popular Meters

While many types of meter exist in English poetry, there are four that we are most likely to come across in the classroom: iambic, trochaic, anapestic and dactylic.

Iambic

Iambic verse was the most popular form of meter in English poetry from the Renaissance to the twentieth century (when free verse became dominant). 

Several reasons have been put forward for the popularity of iambic verse, from its resemblance to the human heartbeat to its echoing of human speech. 

Regardless, once we're used to the sound of iambic meter we can't unhear it, and we start to notice it as part of famous lines of literature.  For example, the opening line of Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities is iambic:

Trochaic

While iambic verse is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, trochaic is the opposite: a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed.

While trochaic verse is considered lighter and more buoyant than iambic, it can also be used to evoke a dark and threatening mood, as seen in the witches lines from Shakespeare's Macbeth:

Anapestic

Anapestic meter consists of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. 

Anapestic is quite a playful meter—can you tell who composed the following lines?

Dactylic

Dactylic meter is the opposite of anapestic, and consists of a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables:

Dactylic verse is quite energetic—even militaristic, as seen in the opening of Tennyson's The Charge of the Light Brigade:

Counting Meter

When it comes to counting the number of feet in a line of poetry, we can use the following fancy terms:

Note, however, that poets can vary their meter at key moments in their compositions. These alterations add flavour and variety to the beat, while also drawing the listener's attention towards something important.

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Rhyme