accentual-syllabic
Metered by beats
Accentual-syllabic describes the dominant metrical system in English poetry, where rhythm depends on both the number of syllables per line and the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Iambic pentameter—five pairs of unstressed-stressed syllables—is the most familiar example: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
The system combines the counting of syllables (as in French verse) with the stress patterns natural to English speech.
Fourteen-line metered poem
- blank verseUnrhymed iambic pentameter
- heroic coupletRhymed pentameter pair
- ShakespeareElizabethan dramatist and poet
- MiltonBaroque English verse master
Chaucer · traditional poetry · iambic pentameter · rhyme scheme · stanza · line · couplet · quatrain
Device that measures usage
- iambTwo-syllable metrical foot
- trocheeStressed-then-unstressed foot
- stressedOverwhelmed by pressure
- unstressedWithout rhythmic emphasis
foot · scansion · rhythm · pentameter · tetrameter · hexameter · dimeter · trimeter
sonnet
Fourteen-line metered poem
- blank verseUnrhymed iambic pentameter
- heroic coupletRhymed pentameter pair
- ShakespeareElizabethan dramatist and poet
Milton · Chaucer · traditional poetry · iambic pentameter · rhyme scheme · stanza · line · couplet · quatrain · tercet
meter
Device that measures usage
unstressed · foot · scansion · rhythm · pentameter · tetrameter · hexameter · dimeter · trimeter · beat
phonology
Science of language sounds
mora · prominence · intonation · accentuation · syllabification
accentual-syllabicquantitative
Concerning measurable amounts
free verse · syllabic · quantitative meter · prose · unmetered