OBJECTIVES
1. Provide a comprehensive definition of syllables and explain the different types of syllables in English poetry with examples.
2. Describe the nature, characteristics, constituents, functions, and types of feet in English poetry using numerous examples.
3. Discuss the essential characteristics of different types of meter in English poetry and identify them in poems.
4. Clearly establish and define the relationship between syllables, feet, and meter in English poetry.
5. Discuss how syllables, feet, and meter contribute to movement, sound, and meaning in poetry.
MAIN CONTENT
RHYTHM AND RHYME
Rhyme is closely associated with sound, generating a recurrent pattern that introduces melody into a poem, especially at the end of lines. Consider the stanza from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" for end-rhymes—walls, calls, falls, hands, and sands. Note that while many poems have rhymes, it's not compulsory; some excellent poems lack rhymes. Rhymes connect lines and add movement to a poem.
Rhythm is the recurrent pattern of sound and movement, tied to the tempo of a poem's lines or words. Akporobaro emphasizes rhythm as a sense of movement, active, moving, and powerfully suggestive. Movement in poetry, or prosody, is the rhythmic structure of verse, distinguishing it from prose. Rhythm, defined by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables, reinforces meaning. For example, Samuel Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" displays an apparent rhythm. Try reading it aloud and tapping your feet:
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man.
Syllable
Poetry expresses itself through words, each constituted by syllables. Syllables form the building blocks of words in poetry, making it crucial to understand their nature. A syllable, as defined by the Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary, is "a single unit of speech, usually containing a vowel, either a whole word or a part of a word when spoken or printed." Barber describes it as "a peak of prominence in the chain of utterance," explaining that sounds produced by a speaker create peaks and valleys, with syllables representing the peaks.
For instance, words like "sow" and "care" have one peak, indicating one syllable, while "banner" and "tutor" each have two peaks, forming two syllables. Simarmatar defines a syllable as "a unit of sounds including a vowel sound," emphasizing its role as a unit of speech with an obligatory vowel sound and optional consonant sounds.
A syllable is a single, uninterrupted sound in a word, comprising either a lone vowel sound (e.g., "are," "air") or a combination of vowel and consonant sounds (e.g., "art," "kiss," "painter"). Words like "sat" have one syllable, with one vowel (a) and two consonants (s and t), while "Saturday" has three syllables, each with a vowel sound (a, u, and a) and a consonant sound (s, t, and d).
Types
Based on the number of syllables, words are categorized into single-syllabic and multi-syllabic types. Monosyllabic words, such as "dog," "car," and "at," have one syllable. Disyllabic words, like "po-em," "ho-tel," and "learn-ed," contain two syllables. Trisyllabic words, including "po-e-try," "beau-ti-ful," and "e-di-ble," consist of three syllables. Polysyllabic or multisyllabic words, exemplified by "Miss-iss-ipp-i" and "in-do-mi-ta-bi-li-ty," have more than three syllables.
Stressed and Unstressed Syllables
Did you know that in the English language, some syllables are stressed while others are not? This leads to the distinction between stressed and unstressed syllables. However, it's important to note that technically, every syllable carries some measure of stress if it is to be heard. The difference lies in the degree of stress.
Abrams explains that a "stressed" syllable is relatively stronger-stressed, while an "unstressed" or "light" syllable is relatively weaker stressed. Stressed syllables are also called accented, whereas unstressed ones are termed unaccented. Syllables with greater stress are referred to as long, strong, heavy, or stressed, while those with lesser stress are considered short, light, or unstressed. Duration-wise, stressed syllables are longer, and unstressed syllables are shorter.
In pronunciation, stressed syllables receive more prominence than unaccented ones. Consider the words "a-head" and "won-der-ful" as examples. In the disyllabic word "ahead," the second syllable is stressed, and in the trisyllabic word "wonderful," the first syllable is stressed.
Examples of stressed syllables in words:
1. YESterday
2. toDAY
3. toMORrow
4. comPLETE
5. interVENE
Conjunctions like "and" are typically considered unstressed syllables. In the sentence "Destroy, the sun, and watch," both instances of "and" are not stressed.
In sentences, certain words and syllables are accorded more stress than others within the same sentence structure. For example:
1. She RAN to the shop
2. Dan is DRIVing his CAR
The stressed syllables/words are represented in capital letters. Try pronouncing the words and observe the difference between stressed and unstressed syllables.
Foot
Foot is a crucial literary device in poetry, serving as a vital measuring unit consisting of one stressed and at least one unstressed syllable. It is symbolized conventionally by a vertical line (|) for stressed and a cross (X) for unstressed syllables, or alternatively marked as 一.
Various scholars contribute to defining a foot. Akporobaro describes it as the general concept denoting the special combination of stressed and unstressed syllables forming the basic recurring rhythmic unit. Abrams sees it as the combination of a strong stress and associated weak stress or stresses, constituting the recurrent metric unit of a line. Thrall, Hibbard, and Holman define it as the unit of rhythm in verse, whether accentual or quantitative, and Arp and Johnson consider it the basic unit used in scansion or measurement of verse.
Common to these definitions is the idea that a foot is a fundamental measuring unit of meter, involved in the rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. It typically consists of one stressed and one or more unstressed syllables, determining the number of feet in a line based on its stressed syllables. In accentual-syllabic meter, the foot is a formative component of measurement, with a combination of feet constituting a line of meter.
A line of poetry possesses as many feet as its stressed syllables, and a combination of feet forms a line of meter. Thus, a complete poem is composed of meters, which, in turn, are made up of combinations of feet. The understanding of these concepts is crucial in articulating the rhythmic structure of poetry.
Pattern
English poetry incorporates various metrical feet, and the fundamental types are as follows:
1. IAMB: unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (daDUM - [X][一])
- Example: behold, recall
2. TROCHEE: stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable (DUMda - [X][一])
- Example: speaking, garland
3. ANAPEST: two unstressed syllables before a stressed syllable (dadaDUM - [XX][一])
- Example: interrupt, on the road
4. DACTYL: a stressed syllable before two unstressed syllables (DUMdada - [XX][一])
- Example: Saturday, happiness, fortunate
5. AMPHIBRAC: unstressed syllable followed by a stressed and an unstressed syllable (daDUMda - [XX][一])
- Example: indifferent, reclining, the garden
6. SPONDEE: two stressed syllables (DUMDUM - [])
- Example: heartburn, out, out
7. PYRRHIC: two unstressed syllables (Dada - [XX][ ])
- Example: on the
Note: The symbols [X], [一], and [] represent stressed, unstressed, and no stress, respectively.
Metrical feet can have two or three syllables, leading to the distinction between Duple Metre (2-syllable feet) and Triple Metre (3-syllable feet).
- Duple Metre:
1. Iamb (iambic foot) - X |
2. Trochee (trochaic foot) - | X
3. Spondee (spondaic foot) - | |
4. Pyrrhus/dibrach (pyrrhic foot) - XX
- Triple Metre:
1. Dactyl (dactylic foot) - | X X
2. Anapest (anapaestic foot) - X X |
3. Amphibrach - X | X
4. Molossus - | | |
Examples:
1. Iambic: to-day, the sun
2. Trochaic: dai-ly, went to
3. Anapestic: in-ter-vene, in the dark
4. Dactylic: mul-ti-ple, col-or of
5. Spondaic: True-blue
Observations:
- A foot is not always a single word.
- Division between feet in a line doesn't always align with word boundaries.
Further observations:
- Iambic is the most common metrical foot.
- Spondee, consisting of two stressed syllables, is rare in English verse.
- Spondaic patterns often occur in irregular feet within predominantly iambic lines, creating emphasis.
- Examples of spondaic words include "childhood," "heartbreak," "bookcase," "mayday," "wineglass," "bright-eyed."
Spondaic examples in famous poems:
- Tennyson's "Break, Break, Break"
- Hopkins' "Pied Beauty"
Lastly, while two stressed syllables make up a spondee, two unstressed syllables make up a pyrrhic. The pyrrhic pattern is more common in classical poetry and less prevalent in English versification. Some prosodists don't consider it a foot due to the lack of an accented syllable.
Functions of Foot
The foot holds a crucial role in English poetry, serving as a foundational element that contributes significantly to the structure of a poem's meter. Comprising combinations of stressed and unstressed syllables, the foot generates musical rhythm, thereby supplying the essential rhythm that distinguishes poetry from prose. Without the repetition of a given foot in verse, poetry would lack its distinctive rhythmic quality.
Rhythm, a key component that separates poetry from prose, is intricately tied to the concept of feet. The recurrence of feet in a regular pattern infuses poetry with a musical quality, imparting an overall character to the poetic form. In essence, the foot serves as the building block of meter, forming various types of meter through the combination of different types of feet.
Metre
Metre stands as the primary constituent of poetry, characterized by the recurrence of a prominent feature in the sequence of speech sounds in a language. Meyer H. Abrams defines metre as the regular repetition of this feature in speech sounds, emphasizing its role in creating a rhythmic pattern within poetry. The sequence of speech sounds, constituting poetry, is formed by syllables, and the foot, with its combination of stressed and unstressed syllables, serves as the basic recurring rhythmic unit.
Bergman further clarifies metre as a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables defining the rhythm of poetry. The scholar highlights that these stress patterns are organized into groupings, called feet, consisting of two or three syllables, and metre is essentially a combination of the type and number of feet it contains. This reinforces the close relationship between metre, syllables, and feet in establishing the rhythm of poetry.
Thrall, Hibbard, and Holman's definition aligns with the aforementioned views, emphasizing the recurrence of a rhythmic pattern in poetry. Arp & Johnson simplify the concept, stating that metre is the identifying characteristic of rhythmic language, allowing us to tap our feet to it. When verse is metrical, the accent of a language occurs at equal intervals of time, marked off with the tap of a foot.
The foot's role in generating rhythm through stressed and unstressed syllables is integral to the construction of metre, forming the rhythmic foundation of poetry. The understanding of different types of metre, including quantitative, accentual, syllabic, and accentual-syllabic, enriches our comprehension of the diverse rhythmic patterns in European languages, with accentual-syllabic rhythm being the principal metre of English poetry since the 14th century.
However, it's crucial to emphasize that not all poems adhere to a meter; some are metered, while others are not. The presence or absence of meter becomes a classification criterion for different types of poetry, including:
1. Formal verse: characterized by a strict meter and rhyme scheme.
2. Blank verse: features a strict meter but lacks a rhyme scheme.
3. Free verse: lacks both a strict meter and rhyme scheme.
Metered verse traces its roots back to ancient Greek and Roman epic poetry, exemplified by works such as the Iliad and Odyssey by Homer and the Aeneid by Virgil. These ancient epics were delivered orally with musical accompaniment in group settings, reflecting the oral traditions of a time when literacy was scarce. The consistent rhythm of these poems facilitated recitation, music accompaniment, and memorization—a crucial element in a society where stories were transmitted orally.
The importance of meter as a tool for memorization persisted through time, evident in songs, nursery rhymes, and children's books. While contemporary poems may use meter less frequently, its development in literary history shifted its role toward aesthetic purposes, distinguishing poetic language from everyday conversation.
In English poetry, the prevalent form of meter is accentual-syllabic, characterized by alternating stressed and unstressed syllables within a predetermined total number of syllables per line. Metrical feet are groups of syllables, and the combination of these feet forms a line of verse. The relationship between syllables, feet, and lines is represented diagrammatically below:
Indeed, stressed and unstressed syllables constitute metrical feet, serving as the fundamental building blocks of poetic meter.
Metre, in my view, is the rhythmic structure of a poem determined by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables. It forms the framework of a poem, influencing its musicality and overall character.
Poetic Metre and Foot/Feet:
The meter of a poetic line is defined by the type and number of recurring feet within each line. The classification is based on two key elements, which are the building blocks of poetic meter:
1. Common feet in poetry: Iamb, Trochee, Spondee, Pyrrhus (Duple Meters), Dactyl, Anapest, Amphibrach, and Molossus (Triple Meters).
2. Common number of feet in lines of poetry: Monometer, Dimeter, Trimeter, Tetrameter, Pentameter, Hexameter, Heptameter, and Octameter.
For example, a poem with six poetic feet per line is written in hexameter, derived from the Greek prefix meaning six. Similarly, a line with five iambs per line is classified as an iambic pentameter.
It's essential to note that the metric format of a line is determined by the number of syllables rather than words. Reading the line aloud and paying attention to the stress pattern helps classify it into the appropriate category.
The most common metrical foot in English poetry is iambic, and the prevalent meter is iambic pentameter. An iambic pentameter line consists of five iambs, each composed of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables. This pattern reproduces the natural rhythm of the English language, making it a versatile and natural choice for poetic composition.
Shakespeare, in works like "Romeo and Juliet," popularized iambic pentameter, and it continues to be employed in modern poetry, as seen in Theodore Roethke's "The Waking." This pattern is often found in sonnets, contributing to the lyrical and natural qualities of the verse. The stressed syllables in iambic pentameter are italicized for easy identification and comprehension.
1. Roethke's 'The Waking' (1953):
Roethke's 'The Waking' is a villanelle in iambic pentameter, skillfully employing traditional meter. The consistent use of iambs gives it a rhythmic and lyrical quality. The rhyme scheme, observed in the first, third, and fourth lines, enhances its structured form.
2. 5 Iambs in Shakespeare's Sonnet 12:
Shakespeare's Sonnet 12 exemplifies iambic pentameter with five iambs per line, contributing to its timeless and melodic quality. The regularity of the iambic pattern is evident in the lines, maintaining a harmonious flow.
3. 4 Iambs in Christopher Marlowe's poem:
Christopher Marlowe's poem, "Come live with me and be my love," features iambic tetrameter, consisting of four iambs per line. This rhythmic pattern contributes to the poem's musicality and is a common occurrence in various poetic forms.
Common Meter:
Common meter, alternating between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimester, is frequently used in English poetry. It appears in works like Wordsworth's Romantic poems and Christian hymns. The alternation of these meters creates a balanced and familiar cadence, as seen in Emily Dickinson's poem "Hope."
Trochaic Meter:
Trochaic meter, characterized by a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, is exemplified in trochaic tetrameter. An example is provided in the line "Tell me not in mournful numbers" with its distinct trochaic rhythm.
Walt Whitman's Use of Meter:
Walt Whitman, known for his contributions to free verse, occasionally incorporates metered lines in his poetry. In "When Lilacs in the Dooryard Bloom'd," he presents an almost perfect line of dactylic hexameter within a predominantly free verse structure. This demonstrates his versatility and experimentation with rhythmic patterns.
Examples from the Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics:
The examples provided, including dactylic hexameter and anapestic trimester, showcase diverse rhythmic patterns found in poetry. Each meter contributes to the overall musicality and expression of the respective poems.
In summary, the analysis of these examples emphasizes the importance of meter in shaping the rhythmic structure of poetry, showcasing the versatility of various metrical patterns employed by poets across different periods and styles.
Metrical Variation:
Metered poems may maintain a consistent metrical pattern throughout or introduce variation by incorporating different metrical feet. This variation can occur within a line, allowing for flexibility and emphasis. For instance, a poem in iambic meter might occasionally feature a trochee, altering the rhythm without fundamentally changing the poem's overall classification.
Metre and Metrical Form:
While a poem can be written in a specific meter, it may not strictly adhere to traditional metrical forms like iambic pentameter. Instead, poets may experiment with combining different feet and interspersing meter irregularly, creating a unique metrical form. Such poems deviate from strict metrical traditions, offering a more flexible and diverse approach to rhythm and structure.
Prosody:
The study and use of meter in poetry are known as "prosody." In English verse, meter derives from the emphasis placed on particular syllables, making it accentual. Prosody involves analyzing meter at various levels, including the foot, line, stanza, and the entire poem.
Conclusion:
This article has exposed you to the sound and movement in English poetry, covering aspects such as syllables, the classification of foot/feet, types and features of foot/feet, various types of metre, and their interconnected roles in creating meaning in poetry. Numerous examples have been provided to illustrate these concepts, and the article concludes by introducing metrical variation and the distinction between metre and metrical form, emphasizing the flexibility and diversity present in poetic expression.
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
Abrams, Meyer H. (2005). A Glossary of Literary Terms. Boston: USA.
Abrams, Meyer H. (1953) The Mirror and the Lamp. New York: Oxford.
Akporobaro, Frederick B. O. (2015). Introduction to Poetry: Its Forms, Function, Language and Theories (2nd ed.). Lagos: Princeton and Associates Publishing.
Arp, Thomas R. and Greg Johnson. (2006). Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense (9th ed.). USA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Baber, Charles. (2000). The English Language. A Historical Introduction. Cambridge U. P.
Bergman, Bennet. ―Meter.‖ (2017). Litcharts. Litcharts LLC, 5. Web. 9 May 2019. www.litcharts.com.
Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary: (2019). U. K: Cambridge U. P.
Dictionary.cambridge.org
Simarmata, John Pieter. (2019). ―Understanding syllables and the rules of using stress in
English words.‖ Web. 9 May. www. dosen.publikasistmikibbi.ippm.org.
Cooper, Jose. ―Iambic pentameter‖ (N.D.). Web.
May. 10. www.justyouressay.com.
Crawford, Robert C. L. ―Forms of rhythm‖ Web. May 10 2019.www.preludemag.com.
Thrall William Flint, Addison Hibbard and Hugh Holman. (1960). AHandbook to Literature. New York: The Odyssey.