metrical foot

Rhythmic poetry measure

A metrical foot is a unit of rhythm in verse, consisting of a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Common feet include the iamb (da-DUM), trochee (DUM-da), dactyl (DUM-da-da), and anapest (da-da-DUM).

Lines of poetry are measured by their feet: pentameter has five, tetrameter four, hexameter six.

prosody

iamb

Two-syllable metrical foot

trocheeStressed-then-unstressed foot
dactylFinger, toe, or verse foot
anapestTrisyllabic metrical foot

spondee · pyrrhic · ionic · scansion · prosody · thesis · mora · quantity · caesura

verse-length

hexameter

Six-foot poetic line

pentameterFive-foot poetic line
tetrameterFour-foot poetic line
trimeterThree metrical feet

dimeter · heptameter · iambic pentameter · blank verse · heroic couplet · sprung rhythm · accentual-syllabic

stress

accent

Regional speech pattern

emphasisStress given to something
syllableUnit of pronunciation
stressedOverwhelmed by pressure

unstressed · long · short · heavy · light · prominence · beat · downbeat · upbeat · thesis

Categories

poetry termspoetry, rhyme, verse, rhythm, beat
rhythm termsrhythm, beat, tempo, cadence, syncopation
classical prosodydactyl, spondee, trochee, iamb, anapest
meteriamb, trochee, spondee, dactyl, anapest
Old English poetryalliteration, Beowulf, kenning, caesura, kennings
prosodyscansion, stress pattern, iamb, trochee, dactyl

Opposites

prosodic unit hierarchy

metrical footstanza

Poem's line grouping

canto · line · syllable · mora · poem

presence of metrical organization

metrical footfree verse

Poetry without fixed structure

irregular rhythm · arrhythmia · sprung rhythm · cadence · line break

literary form

metrical footprose

Unversified language

paragraph · sentence · everyday speech · conversational language

Family

foot, meter, footing, footprint, footpath, footwork, metrics, metrical, footman

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