METER
A metrical composition is divided into lines, each line containing a
definite number of syllables. These syllables are grouped by twos and
threes into "feet" which, by their makeup, determine the meter or
movement of the line.
Meter in English verse is built up through accent alone, but, though
this principle differs entirely from that of the ancients, who depended
on the length of the syllable, we still cling to the names with which
they distinguished the different feet. It will be discovered that by
combining accented and unaccented syllables into groups of two, three
and four an immense variety of feet can be produced. In fact the Roman
poets made use of about thirty. In English verse we disregard the
four-syllabled foot altogether and make use only of the two and three
syllabled.
Those commonly accepted are:
Iambus [u][-] Dactyl [-][u][u]
Trochee [-][u] Anapest [u][u][-]
Spondee [-][-] Amphimacer [-][u][-]
Amphibrach [u][-][u]
The dash stands for the accented syllable.
An idea of the use of these meters in verse may be gained from the
following examples:
IAMBIC
u -- | u ---- | u -- | u - | u | -----
"From low | to high | doth dis | solu | tion | climb
u - | u ---- | u - | u - | u --
And sink | from high | to low | along | a scale."
TROCHAIC
---- u | --- u | -- u | -- u
"Tell us, | Master, | of thy | wisdom
-- u | --- u | ---- u | ---- u
Ere the | chains of | darkness | bind thee."
DACTYLLIC
---- u u | -- u u
"Take her up | tenderly
-- u u | --
Lift her with | care."
ANAPESTIC
u u ---- | u u -- | u u ---- | u
"If he talks | of his bak | ing or brew | ing
u u ----- | u u --- | u u ---
If he comes | to you rid | ing a cob."
A line of spondees is rarely found in our English because a succession
of accented syllables is almost impossible with us and the amphimacer
and amphibrach are seldom more than secondary feet in a dactyllic or
anapestic line. Where more than one combination of syllables is used the
line takes its name from the foot predominating.
As to number, the feet in a single line are practically unlimited though
one rarely comes across a line containing more than eight. Lines of
three and four are more common. Indeed, in some lyrical poems we have
lines made up of a single syllable.
The classic names for lines of varying length are perhaps necessary. The
line of two feet is a dimeter; three--trimeter; four--tetrameter;
five--pentameter; six--hexameter; seven--heptameter and
eight--octameter. Thus Pope's Iliad is written in iambic pentameter, in
lines made up of five iambics; and Longfellow's Hiawatha is trochaic
tetrameter, each line containing four trochees.
It will be noticed that many lines lack the syllable or two necessary
to complete the last foot. For instance:
-- u | -- u | -- u | -- u
"Airly | Beacon | Airly | Beacon,
- u | ---- u | -- u | ---
O the | pleasant | sight to | _see_."
and
-- u u | --- u u | ----
"Ah but things | more than po | _lite_."
This privilege of ending in the middle of a foot is in no way a poetic
license but lends a flexibility to the use of all meters which would
otherwise be wofully lacking.
Again we find, especially in dactyllic and anapestic lines, a trochee or
spondee thrown in to vary the movement. In this anapestic line the meter
is varied by a spondee:
u u -- | --- ---- | u u --- | u u ---
"Not a drum | _was heard_ | not a fun | eral note."
This insertion of a foot is always allowable if it helps the proper
movement of the line and if it is put in voluntarily. With a beginner
whose ear is none too well trained it is better to try only pure
lines--lines made up of but one kind of foot. In this way the false
extra syllable or foot is sooner found out and corrected.
A first-class exercise is to write verse without rhyme or very much
reason, whose only virtue shall be lines of exact length with meter
regular to the verge of singsongness. As an exercise, too, it is helpful
to take a dozen lines or more of good verse and break them up into feet.
The greatest poets are not necessarily the best for this purpose, owing
to the irregularity of much of their work. It is better for the beginner
to steer clear of Browning and try the simpler and more regular
constructions of Dobson and Praed.
III
RHYME