![]() ![]() There’s no discernible pattern in the meter, which is why the poem is called free verse. Let’s look at the first stanza of “ Spelling” by Margaret Atwood, which is written in free verse: If we mistakenly equate rhythm and meter, we might assume that free verse poetry lacks rhythm because it doesn’t use metrical patterns. Rhythm is best understood as the flow of sound, whereas meter is a pattern of sound. The first two lines of “Annabel Lee” (above) are enjambed the first two lines of “Sonnet 18” (above) are end-stopped. Sometimes breaks and punctuation are part of the aesthetic design of a poem, but their placement will almost always affect a poem’s meter and rhythm, because they instruct the reader to pause.Įnd-stopped lines contain a complete grammatical phrase (or clause) or terminate with a period, closing parenthesis, colon, or semicolon. Enjambment occurs when a line break occurs in the middle of a complete phrase or clause or when terminal punctuation marks are absent. We’ll hold on a period longer than on a comma. We’ll pause a little longer between stanzas than we will between lines. In poetry, line breaks, stanza breaks, white space, and punctuation provide cues for pauses. These lines are therefore written in iambic pentameter. Thou ART | more LOVE | ly AND | more TEM | perATE:Įach line consists of five metrical feet, so this poem is written in pentameter. Shall I | comPARE | thee TO | a SUM | mer’s DAY? || This line consists of three anapests followed by an iamb, or a combination of anapestic and iambic feet.īut what about the number of feet? How do those factor into the language we use to talk about meter? Let’s look at a line from Shakespeare’s “ Sonnet 18” (please note that I have changed the capitalization to accommodate scansion): ![]() Let’s return to the first line of “Annabel Lee” and show its metrical feet: We also use special terminology to refer to the number of feet in a line of poetry:
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