As is often the case, if you want to learn something really well, teach it to someone else.
When I began writing poetry again a couple of years ago, almost all of what I wrote had a high degree of regular rhythm despite the fact I never took any poetry classes (the wiser heads are nodding in recognition), and certainly was not familiar with meter nor its terminology.
I started paying closer attention here on Poetry Soup, especially after reading some of the discussions and then, in my poems, trying out some of the types of meter talked about. To tell the truth, I did not find it difficult, perhaps because I sing and play a guitar. I really don't know. I do know that I can just sound out a line and generally pick out the stressed syllables just by saying it, then adjust the words or find other words to make the meter regular, if that's what I want.
In the contest I just held, I found out that this was not the case for everyone. Some folks really struggled.
I'm pretty sure that I could have helped them more if I could have been physically with them so that we could hear the words and their inflections, but alas, such was not the case.
I did find some resources to help those in need, should they choose to utilize them.
There is also a bit of science to it as well. That's what I want to discuss in this blog, as it does not require an ear for inflection, only some knowledge of parts of speech.
Scansion: Let's consider a line of poetry and make a scansion of it, which will break the line into syllables and show the syllables with stress and those without stress.
"She walks in beauty, like the night"
1.Hyphenate all the syllables in multi-syllable words. There's only one in this line.
(If you look up "beauty" on dictionary.com and click the Syllable icon, it will display "beau·ty")
"She walks in beau-ty, like the night"
2. Capitalize the stressed syllables in all multi-syllable words.
You should hear the first syllable stressed. If you are not sure, look at the word on dictionary.com, and below it you will see a phonetic pronunciation "[byoo-tee] (stressed syllables will be bolded) Press the speaker icon to hear the word pronounced.
"She walks in BEAU-ty, like the night"
3.For single syllable words, capitalize all nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
(There are a set of rules that I'll explain further down)
"She WALKS in BEAU-ty, LIKE the NIGHT" See the pattern? An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one.
"da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM"
This pattern is called "iamb". A unit of a particular pattern is called a "foot".
4.Put vertical bars around each foot. Remove any punctuation.
"|She WALKS|in BEAU|ty LIKE|the NIGHT|" Count the feet (metrical units) between the vertical bars.
There are 4 iambic feet here, so a line like this is called "iambic tetrameter". (tetra is a Greek root meaning "four"). If there were 5 iambic feet, it would be called "iambic pentameter".
If you wish to write in iamb meter, verify that it is iambic by doing a scansion like the one above. If your line is not iambic, you will have to change something to make it so. Sometimes, you can move words around. Sometimes you need a new word or words, inflected differently. Look up your problem word on thesaurus.com to see a list of synonyms.
If you are writing regular iamb meter, your line will always start with an unstressed syllable and end with a stressed one. Other meter types may behave differently.
Trochee:
Trochee meter is just the opposite of iambic meter. It is a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one.
|DUM da|DUM da|DUM da|DUM da|
By the shores of Gitche Gumee
By the shining Big-Sea-Water
|BY the|SHORES of|GIT-che|GU-mee|
|BY the|SHIN-ing|BIG sea|WA-ter|
There are 4 trochaic feet, so this meter is called trochaic tetrameter.
Anapest:
Anapest meter has three beats instead of two. The pattern is two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable.
|da da DUM|da da DUM|da da DUM|
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold
|And his CO|horts were GLEAM|ing in PUR|ple and GOLD|
There are 4 anapestic feet, so this meter is called anapestic tetrameter.
Back to scansion rules now. How to determine which single syllables words are stressed:
The biggest issue folks seem to have is to determine which single syllable words are stressed and which are unstressed.
The rules below work pretty well, but there can be exceptions. Use common sense.
For single syllable words in a line (sentence stress) here are the general rules:
1. Content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) are stressed.
2. Structure words (pronouns, prepositions, articles, conjunctions) are unstressed
3. Auxiliary verbs (do, be, have, can, must) are unstressed
BUT
4. Negative auxiliary verbs(don't,aren't,can't, musn't) ARE stressed
See this site or google "sentence stress": http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/sentence-stress-rules.htm
Also google "word stress" for some more rules.
Happy writing!
P.S. Many poems do not have regular meter, or have a mixture of meter, but still sound very rhythmic.
Craig mentioned "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" by Longfellow. I did a scansion of it just now
and the meter is quite mixed, Dactyl, Anapest, and Iamb, with an occasional Trochee, but it still
sounds very rhythmic. The horsehoof beat comes mostly from the Anapest and the Dactyl feet.
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
|LIST-en my|CHILD-ren and|you shall HEAR|
|DUM da da|DUM da da|da da DUM|
| Dactyl | Dactyl | Anapest |
|of the MID|night RIDE|of PAUL|re-VERE|
|da da DUM|da DUM|da DUM|da DUM|
| Anapest | Iamb | Iamb | Iamb |
|on the EIGHT|teenth of AP|ril, in SEV|en-ty-FIVE|
|da da DUM|da da DUM|da da DUM|da da DUM|
| Anapest | Anapest | Anapest | Anapest |
|HARD-ly|a MAN|is NOW|a-LIVE|
|DUM da|da DUM|da DUM|da DUM|
| Trochee | Iamb | Iamb |Iamb |
|who re-MEM|bers that FAM|ous DAY|and YEAR|
|da da DUM|da da DUM|da DUM|da DUM|
| Anapest | Anapest | Iamb | Iamb |