March 21, 2006 | Rhythm, Rhyme, and Meter

Rhythm – the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

Foot – a two or three syllable unit used to measure a line of poetry. It consists, usually, of an

unstressed syllable and one or two stressed syllables.

Iambic – a poetic foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Meter – the length of a line of poetry

Pentameter – a line of poetry with five feet (usually ten syllables)

Rhyme – words that sound the same: turtle, fertile / ineffectual, hen pecked you all

Rhyme Scheme – the pattern of end-rhyme (last words of each line) in a poem

Internal Rhyme – when a word in the middle of the sentence rhymes with the word at the end of

the sentence: The zoo has a turtle that is quite fertile.

Slant Rhyme (half rhyme, approximate rhyme) – words that sort of rhyme: house, horse

Scansion – analyzing a poem to find its rhythm, rhyme, and meter

Whŏse woóds thĕse aŕe Ĭ thínk Ĭ knów a

Hĭs hoúse ĭs ín thĕ víllăge thóugh a

Hĕ wíll nŏt sée ŭs stóppĭng hére b

Tŏ wátch hĭs woóds fĭll úp wĭth snów a

This stanza consists of four lines. Each line has four iambic feet. The rhyme scheme is aaba.