Meter (poetry)

Metre (American spelling: meter) describes the regular linguistic sound patterns of verse. Scansion is the analysis of poetry's metrical and rhythmic patterns; prosody is sometimes used to describe poetic meter, and sometimes indicates the analysis of similar aspects of language in linguistics. Meter is part of many formal verse forms.

Technical terms in poetic meter

• caesura: A caesura (literally, a cut or cutting) refers to a particular kind of break within a poetic line. In Latin and Greek meter, caesura refers to a break within a foot caused by the end of a word. In English poetry, a caesura refers to a sense of a break within a line. Caesuras play a particularly important role in Old English poetry.
• Inversion: When a foot of poetry is reversed with respect to the general meter of a poem, it is referred to as an inversion. This term is usually only used for the first foot in a line.
• Headless: A headless meter is one where the first foot is missing its first syllable.
• Quantitative: see Quantitative#Use in prosody and poetry

Common feet

The most common characteristic feet of English verse are the iamb in two syllables and the anapest in three. (See Foot (prosody) for a complete list of the metrical feet and their names.)

Related Topics:
Iamb - Anapest - Foot (prosody)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~