CHAPTER II
METER
A metrical composition is divided into lines, each line containing a definite number of syllables. These syllables are grouped by twos and threes into “feet” which, by their makeup, determine the meter or movement of the line.
Meter in English verse is built up through accent alone, but, though this principle differs entirely from that of the ancients, who depended on the length of the syllable, we still cling to the names with which they distinguished the different feet. It will be discovered that by combining accented and unaccented syllables into groups of two, three and four an immense variety of feet can be produced. In fact the Roman poets made use of about thirty. In English verse we disregard the four-syllabled foot altogether and make use only of the two and three syllabled.
Those commonly accepted are:
| Iambus | ?— | | Dactyl | —?? |
| Trochee | —? | | Anapest | ??— |
| Spondee | —— | | Amphimacer | —?— |
| Amphibrach?—? |
The dash stands for the accented syllable.
An idea of the use of these meters in verse may be gained from the following examples:
| IAMBIC |
| ? | — | " | ? | — | " | ? | — | " | ? — | " | ? | " | — |
| “From | low | " | to | high | " | doth | dis | " | solu | " | tion | " | climb |
| ? | — | " | ? | — | " | ? | — | " | ? — | " | ? | — |
| And | sink | " | from | high | " | to | low | " | along | " | a | scale.” |
| TROCHAIC |
| — | ? | " | — ? | " | — | ? | " | — ? |
| “Tell | us, | " | Master, | " | of | thy | " | wisdom |
| — | ? | " | — | ? | " | — ? | " | — | ? |
| Ere | the | " | chains | of | " | darkness | " | bind | thee.” |
| DACTYLLIC |
| — | ? | ? | " | — ? ? |
| “Take | her | up | " | tenderly |
| — | ? | ? | " | — |
| Lift | her | with | " | care.” |
| ANAPESTIC |
| ? | ? | — | " | ? | ? | — | " | ? | ? | — | " | ? |
| “If | he | talks | " | of | his | bak | " | ing | or | brew | " | ing |
| ? | ? | — | " | ? | ? | — | " | ? | ? | — |
| If | he | comes | " | to | you | rid | " | ing | a | cob.” |
A line of spondees is rarely found in our English because a succession of accented syllables is almost impossible with us and the amphimacer and amphibrach are seldom more than secondary feet in a dactyllic or anapestic line. Where more than one combination of syllables is used the line takes its name from the foot predominating.
As to number, the feet in a single line are practically unlimited though one rarely comes across a line containing more than eight. Lines of three and four are more common. Indeed, in some lyrical poems we have lines made up of a single syllable.
The classic names for lines of varying length are perhaps necessary. The line of two feet is a dimeter; three—trimeter; four—tetrameter; five—pentameter; six—hexameter; seven—heptameter and eight—octameter. Thus Pope’s Iliad is written in iambic pentameter, in lines made up of five iambics; and Longfellow’s Hiawatha is trochaic tetrameter, each line containing four trochees.
It will be noticed that many lines lack the syllable or two necessary to complete the last foot. For instance:
| — ? | " | — ? | " | — ? | " | — ? |
| “Airly | " | Beacon | " | Airly | " | Beacon, |
| — | ? | " | — ? | " | — | ? | " | — |
| O | the | " | pleasant | " | sight | to | " | see.” |
and
| — | ? | ? | " | — | ? | ? | " | — |
| “Ah | but | things | " | more | than | po | " | lite.” |
This privilege of ending in the middle of a foot is in no way a poetic license but lends a flexibility to the use of all meters which would otherwise be wofully lacking.
Again we find, especially in dactyllic and anapestic lines, a trochee or spondee thrown in to vary the movement. In this anapestic line the meter is varied by a spondee:
| ? | ? | — | " | — | — | " | ? | ? | — | " | ? ? | — |
| “Not | a | drum | " | was | heard | " | not | a | fun | " | eral | note.” |
This insertion of a foot is always allowable if it helps the proper movement of the line and if it is put in voluntarily. With a beginner whose ear is none too well trained it is better to try only pure lines—lines made up of but one kind of foot. In this way the false extra syllable or foot is sooner found out and corrected.
A first-class exercise is to write verse without rhyme or very much reason, whose only virtue shall be lines of exact length with meter regular to the verge of singsongness. As an exercise, too, it is helpful to take a dozen lines or more of good verse and break them up into feet. The greatest poets are not necessarily the best for this purpose, owing to the irregularity of much of their work. It is better for the beginner to steer clear of Browning and try the simpler and more regular constructions of Dobson and Praed.
