Syllabic Measure, metric feet & ideological metric form

An iamb is a 2-syllable metric foot where the stress is on the second syllable (and then every other as the line continues in iambic meter) -- and the rather fancy name for the 2-syllable metric foot where the stress is on the first is trochee (and then every other as the line continues for trochaic meter). Meter is the syllable count and there are many types: tri/tetra/quadra/penta/hexa/hepta/octa/ -- regular/flat pentameter for example is 5 syllables, but trochaic or iambic pentameter has ten as it is referenced by the iamb/trochee. In other words, it is named by it's metric feet and not count.

dah-dum = iamb
dum-dah = trochee

For iambic meter think sonnets and Shakespeare, iambic pentameter is there the classic measure. Edgar Allen Poe was a great lover of trochaic meter, read The Raven for an excellent (I'd say masterful) example of trochaic octameter. Trochaic meter is not so commonly used in English poetry in metric form above tetrameter, mainly because it is an incredibly difficult meter to be consistent in - even Poe had to bend the rules and use forced dactyls and broken metrics to get it all working nicely -- still masterful.

Both trochaic and iambic meter are ideological and may not be for everyone (though certainly the best metric formats to work with for most rhyme and blank verse) - in formal poetry they are more or less the staple or standard in terms of rhythm and there are methods and a certain degree of skill required to do it efficiently, not to mention practice. Then there are also forms of formal poetry that use iamb and trochee in stylised substitutions - further confusing matters. In terms of usage and implementation, iambic meter has a tendency to be more expressive or theatrical because the soft-hard ebb and flow of rhythm has a pseudo-natural drawl to it and the stressed final syllable of every verse is very well designed for end-rhyme, whereas trochaic meter lends itself fantastically to internal rhyme and forced rhyme - not to mention polysyllabic end-rhyme and recurrent patterns of pseudo-rhyme and other internal nuance -- however, that doesn't mean they can't both be used for what the other is more easily attuned to.

There are other accentuated metric forms too, such as dactylic and anapaestic (or anti-dactylic) - here the accent is based on a 3-syllable metric foot.

dum-dah-dah = dactyl
dah-dah-dum = anapaest (antidactylus; antadact; anti-dactyl)

There are more that relate to the 4s metric foot and 3s metric where all syllables are stressed, and the opposing metric foot also, but there's no need to go overboard with information overload...

Here is an example of straddled switchable iambic/trochaic heptameter:

Beguil |ing whilst | reclin |ing through scenes | I want | to feel –
Smiling | further def | ining | such dream |ing I | may stream;
designs | of in | ner- lin|ings and deeds | that need | redeem |ing, whilst | I rec | line, beg | uiling.

As a straddled meter it would be presented thus:

Beguiling whilst reclining
through scenes I want to feel –
smiling further defining
such dreaming I may stream;
designs of inner-linings
and deeds that need redeeming,
whilst I recline, beguiling.

When regarding ideological meter - it is important to understand how it reads - or the ease of hearing how it reads aloud. Shakespeare used such meter with a degree of exclusivity. In all his plays (with the exception of Richard II) noble characters will always speak in iambic pentametric blank verse - commoners in prosaic phrase (uni metric prose, almost regular wording), and mysticals in trochaic tetrametric rhyme. Trochaic meter is, as I previously stated, notoriously difficult to maintain over longer periods - this goes double for when spoken - in order to use it effectively a great deal of assonance must be employed to keep the rhythm from jarring. This gives it an almost nightmarish nursery rhyme quality - hence why the witches in Macbeth speak this way, hence why the fairies and mysticals of A Midsummer Night's Dream also speak it - there the idea is immediate alien nature to contrast the human nobles, gives a direct indication that they are other beings. This is also the reason why Poe uses it for the Raven, but he goes a step further and gives a great sense of unease to it by heavily overusing dactylic substitutes to speed it up before his killer line - nevermore.

"When regarding ideological meter - it is important to understand how it reads - or the ease of hearing how it reads aloud. Shakespeare used such meter with a degree of exclusivity. In all his plays (with the exception of Richard II) noble characters will always speak in iambic pentametric blank verse - commoners in prosaic phrase (uni metric prose, almost regular wording), and mysticals in trochaic tetrametric rhyme. Trochaic meter is, as I previously stated, notoriously difficult to maintain over longer periods - this goes double for when spoken - in order to use it effectively a great deal of assonance must be employed to keep the rhythm from jarring. This gives it an almost nightmarish nursery rhyme quality - hence why the witches in Macbeth speak this way, hence why the fairies and mysticals of A Midsummer Night's Dream also speak it - there the idea is immediate alien nature to contrast the human nobles, gives a direct indication that they are other beings. This is also the reason why Poe uses it for the Raven, but he goes a step further and gives a great sense of unease to it by heavily overusing dactylic substitutes to speed it up before his killer line - nevermore."


Wish had this to spring on my English Literature teachers almost fifty years ago. I don't think they knew anything beyond iambic, except making us memorize X number of lines of whatever we were studying at the time. When was the last time you heard someone quote "Thanatopsis" ?

but can you use it in a sentence?

Wish had this to spring on my English Literature teachers almost fifty years ago. I don't think they knew anything beyond iambic, except making us memorize X number of lines of whatever we were studying at the time. When was the last time you heard someone quote "Thanatopsis" ?

I HEARD MY DOCTOR SAY IT ONCE TO ME-THE MAN HAS A SEVERE CASE OF "THANATOPSIS!!!!" I TOLD HIM MY LIVER WAS FUCKED UP AND HE TOLD ME TO STOP DRINKING-LONG TIME AGO-WE STOPPED TALKING THEN AND MY SON-WHO IS A SURGEON TOLD ME TO NOT WORRY ABOUT IT AS "THANATOPSIS" CAN BE CURED BY CONTINUING LONG HARD NIGHTS OF EMIBIBATIOUS BEHAVIOR-DAMN I LOVE THAT KID!!!!

PROBABLY SHOULD DELETE THIS POST AS IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH KIE'S ADMIRABLE EFFORT TO IRRADICATE MY POETIC IGNORANCE BUT I CAN'T HEP MAHSELF!!!!

Bubbah looked into becky-sue's eyes, cupped her chin while leaning on one elbow, one knee, and said 'wow, this is so much better thanatopsis...besides, we already have one kid with three eyes, and the sheriff says if i do that agin, i might be in a lick of trouble."

WE HAVE TO STOP THIS WE ARE HIJACKING KIE'S THREAD!!!! BUT THAT WAS FUNNIER THAN POOPSICLES!!!!

sowwy.

AmandaLyn wrote:Bubbah looked into becky-sue's eyes, cupped her chin while leaning on one elbow, one knee, and said 'wow, this is so much better thanatopsis...besides, we already have one kid with three eyes, and the sheriff says if i do that agin, i might be in a lick of trouble."

Now write it to trochaic or iambic meter

Kie wrote:

AmandaLyn wrote:Bubbah looked into becky-sue's eyes, cupped her chin while leaning on one elbow, one knee, and said 'wow, this is so much better thanatopsis...besides, we already have one kid with three eyes, and the sheriff says if i do that agin, i might be in a lick of trouble."

Now write it to trochaic or iambic meter

oh poop

Kie wrote:

AmandaLyn wrote:Bubbah looked into becky-sue's eyes, cupped her chin while leaning on one elbow, one knee, and said 'wow, this is so much better thanatopsis...besides, we already have one kid with three eyes, and the sheriff says if i do that agin, i might be in a lick of trouble."

Now write it to trochaic or iambic meter

Bubba looked at Becky-Sue

I truly love you, yes I do.

Leaned cross her bod, on elbow propped

Despite police, i can’t be stopped

They said because of Bubba-Boy

My latest little pride and joy

(that extra eye you must ignore)

I cannot copulate galore

The line they drew, so Becky, Miss,

Much better you thanatopsis.

I guess the rhythm to the above is perfect, if you've had a few margaritas , but as once said, 'all is fair in love and poetry.

Is no one else going to put anything to ideological meter?