scansion
Marking poetic stress
Scansion is the analysis of verse to determine its meter—identifying which syllables are stressed and unstressed, and how they form rhythmic patterns.
A student learning poetry scans lines to understand their structure: The scansion reveals iambic pentameter.
The term comes from the Latin for climbing, suggesting how the voice rises and falls through a line.
Two-syllable metrical foot
- trocheeStressed-then-unstressed foot
- dactylFinger, toe, or verse foot
- anapestTrisyllabic metrical foot
- spondeeDouble-stress metrical unit
pyrrhic · ionic · substitution
Regional speech pattern
- emphasisStress given to something
- thesisAcademic argument requiring defense
- beatRhythmic pulse or strike
- unstressedWithout rhythmic emphasis
Study of verse rhythm
- syllable countNumber of word segments
- elisionDropped sounds in speech
- diaeresisVowel separation mark
- caesuraPause within a line
enjambment · hiatus · resolution · contraction · syncopation · colon · period · line break
Patterned stress and silence
- cadenceRhythmic pulse or pattern
- tempoRate of musical performance
- flowUnbroken forward movement
- pulseArterial blood throb
measure · pattern · regularity · recurrence · periodicity · timing · pace · modulation
Five-foot poetic line
- tetrameterFour-foot poetic line
- trimeterThree metrical feet
- hexameterSix-foot poetic line
- dimeterTwo-foot poetic line
heptameter · blank verse · heroic couplet · common meter · sprung rhythm · quantitative meter · accentual-syllabic
Short vowel indicator
- slashAngled line or swipe
- virguleDiagonal typographic stroke
- double barTerminal notation marking
- stress markSymbol showing syllable emphasis
marking · diagramming · parsing · symbols · acute accent · grave accent · circumflex
iamb
Two-syllable metrical foot
- trocheeStressed-then-unstressed foot
- dactylFinger, toe, or verse foot
- anapestTrisyllabic metrical foot
spondee · pyrrhic · ionic · substitution
accent
Regional speech pattern
- emphasisStress given to something
- thesisAcademic argument requiring defense
- beatRhythmic pulse or strike
unstressed · tonic · slack · lift · dip · promotion · demotion
prosody
Study of verse rhythm
- syllable countNumber of word segments
- elisionDropped sounds in speech
- diaeresisVowel separation mark
caesura · enjambment · hiatus · resolution · contraction · syncopation · colon · period · line break
rhythm
Patterned stress and silence
pulse · measure · pattern · regularity · recurrence · periodicity · timing · pace · modulation · variation
pentameter
Five-foot poetic line
- tetrameterFour-foot poetic line
- trimeterThree metrical feet
- hexameterSix-foot poetic line
dimeter · heptameter · blank verse · heroic couplet · common meter · sprung rhythm · quantitative meter · accentual-syllabic
breve
Short vowel indicator
- slashAngled line or swipe
- virguleDiagonal typographic stroke
- double barTerminal notation marking
stress mark · marking · diagramming · parsing · symbols · acute accent · grave accent · circumflex
- poetrypoem, poems, poetry, verse, verses
- literary analysisliterary analysis, character analysis, book review, plot, critical analysis
- poetry termspoetry, rhyme, verse, rhythm, meter
- poetic devicesalliteration, assonance, consonance, rhyme, simile
- poeticsrhyme, versification, poetic form, stanza, meter
- poetry formshaiku, sonnet, sonnets, tanka, limerick
scansionsemantic analysis
Study of linguistic meaning
interpretation · hermeneutics · explication · meaning · close reading
scansionfree verse
Poetry without fixed structure
prose · formlessness · irregular rhythm · arrhythmia · sprung rhythm
scan, descend, ascend, scanner, scanning, transcend, scans, scanned, ascendant