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Meter in Poetry 47830 Views
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Description:
Without meter, poetry is just... poetry without meter.
Transcript
- 00:07
Meter in Poetry, a la Shmoop. If we told you to watch for iambs<<eye-ams>>,
- 00:13
trochees<<tro-keys>>, spondees<<spahn-dees>>, anapests<<an-uh-pests>> and dactyls<<dack-tils>>...
- 00:17
...you might cover your head with your hands and run screaming for the nearest shelter...
- 00:22
...hoping against hope that none of them are hungry.
- 00:24
But, in fact, these "fantastic five" are nothing more than types of poetic "feet." And those
Full Transcript
- 00:30
feet? They help add rhythm and meter to a line of poetry.
- 00:34
Oh yeah... it's not just jazz musicians who need to lay down a funky beat.
- 00:39
Poetry is big on beauty, and ideas, and feelings, sure... but in many cases, it also relies
- 00:45
on meter to evoke a certain response from the reader.
- 00:51
During poetry's humble beginnings...
- 00:53
...meter was introduced not so much to make poems sing-songy...
- 00:58
...but to simply help remember the dang things. Which way is easier to remember what you need
- 01:06
to get at the grocery store?
- 01:08
A list like this?
- 01:10
Or a poem like this:
- 01:12
The milk is gone And yogurt, too
- 01:14
I need some Dawn And a new shampoo
- 01:15
We're low on rye The eggs are out
- 01:18
Could use some pie And sauerkraut.
- 01:20
Catchy, no?
- 01:22
And it's not just because the poem rhymes.
- 01:24
It's because there is a natural flow... a rhythm... to the words.
- 01:28
Let's take a look at a version of our shopping poem that is lacking in rhythm.
- 01:33
The milk is gone And somebody polished off the last of the
- 01:37
yogurt, too I need to get some Dawn
- 01:40
And shampoo We're running low on our rye
- 01:43
The eggs were eaten this morning and so they're just about out
- 01:46
Since we don't have any dessert on hand it would be nice to stock up on pie
- 01:51
And we should also probably get sauerkraut.
- 01:55
Still rhymes. But yikes. Probably not something you'd see come out of poet laureate.
- 02:01
Meter is absent in free verse poetry, but there is still rhythm.
- 02:05
Not every line needs to have a certain number of syllables...
- 02:08
...and you can switch up where you stress certain words...
- 02:11
...but even free verse makes you feel as if there is some kind of music infused into the
- 02:16
language. Try playing around with meter yourself, and
- 02:20
see what happens.
- 02:21
If all else fails, at least you won't run out of sauerkraut.
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