Poetry Basics : Scansion

1. Poetry Basics : Scansion

2. General Poetry Terms • Meter (British English spelling: metre) describes the linguistic sound patterns of a verse. • Scansion is the analysis of poetry's metrical and rhythmic patterns. • Prosody is sometimes used to describe poetic meter, and indicates the analysis of similar aspects of language in linguistics. • Meter is part of many formal verse forms.

3. Lines • The traditional definition of poetry is any written composition that is deliberately separated into lines. Therefore, the line is one of the poet’s most powerful tools in developing meaning. • Linear patternsthat occur in the line are found primarily in how the line ends. Linear pattern looks at whether the line is end-stopped or enjambed (referred to as enjambment).

4. Linear Patterns • An end-stopped line ends with hard punctuation, typically a period, comma, dash or semi-colon. from “A Poison Tree” I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow. --William Blake • Enjambed lines break the phrase and often contain internal punctuation. from “Annabell Lee” It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea, that a maiden there lived whom you may know by the name of ANNABEL LEE;---- Edgar Allan Poe

5. Rhyme From “To the City of Bombay” The Cities are full of pride,Challenging each to each --This from her mountain-side,That from her burthened beach. They count their ships full tale --Their corn and oil and wine,Derrick and loom and bale,And rampart's gun-flecked line;City by City they hail:"Hast aught to match with mine?“ And the men that breed from themThey traffic up and down,But cling to their cities' hemAs a child to their mother's gown. -- Rudyard Kipling A B A B C D C D C D E F E F

6. Meter The metrical "feet"in the classical languages were based on the length of time taken to pronounce each syllable, which were categorized according to their weight as either "long" syllables or "short" syllables (also known as "heavy" and "light" syllables, respectively, to distinguish from long and short vowels). Meter in poetryis typically described by identifying the dominant type of foot and the number of feet per line (e.g. iambic pentameter).

7. Feet • Foot: One stressed syllable plus the unstressed syllable(s) that go with it • Repetitions of feet patterns creates rhythm • Feet are notated with: / = Stressed Syllable z = Unstressed Syllable

8. Feet i – AM an - uh - PEST TRO - kay DAK – til - ick SPON - DAY Ta – DAH La – Ti – DAH DOH - Tee DOH – Tee – Doh DOH - DOH

9. Scanning a line Scan for the number of feet in the line: Let’s go to the store and buy some more. | | | z / z z / z / z/ / / /

10. Feet per Line

11. Stanza • Stanza: two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem. • The stanzas of a poem are usually of the same length and follow the same pattern of meter and rhyme, creating a stanzaic pattern. • While there are often lines separating stanzas, this is not always the case. Sometimes rhyme patterns are helpful in determining stanza breaks in a poem without stanza breaks.

12. What meter is this? • Peter, Peter pumpkin-eater • Had a wife and couldn't keep her. Peter, Peter pumpkin-eater Hada wifeand couldn't keep her. Orange is the stressed syllable (/) / z / z / z / z trochee / z / z / z / z Peter, / Peter / pumpkin- / eater Hada / wifeand / couldn't /keep her. tetrameter trochaic tetrameter

13. What meter is this? The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold z z z z z z z z / / / / The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold anapest z z z z z z z z / / / / The Assyr / ian came down/ like a wolf / on the fold And his co / horts were gleam / ing in pur / ple and gold tetrameter anapestic tetrameter

14. What meter is this? Picture your self in a boat on a river with tangerine tree-ees and marmalade skii-ii-es. / z z / z z / z z / z z Picture your selfin a boaton a riverwith tangerine tree-ees and marmalade skii-ii-es. dactyl / z z / z z / z z / z z Picture your / selfin a / boaton a / river with tangerine / tree-ees and / marmalade / skii-ii-es. tetrameter dactylic tetrameter

15. What meter is this? It is an ancyent Marinere, And he stoppeth one of three: "By thy long grey beard and thy glittering eye "Now wherefore stoppest me? Line 1: iambic tetrameter It is / an anc / yent Mar / in ere, And he stopp/eth one/ of three: "By thy long /grey beard / and thy glitt / er ing eye "Now where / fore stopp / est me? Line 2: foot 1 = anapestic; feet 2 & 3 = iambic # of feet = trimeter Line 3: feet 1, 3, & 4 = anapestic foot 2 = iambic # of feet = tetrameter iambic tetrameter Line 4: iambic trimeter

16. Other Basic Terminology • Turn or Shift: a shifting of focus, either in topic or tone, within a poem • Refrain: repetition of a line or lines within a poem. In musical lyrics, we call the refrain that chorus.

17. The end . . . for now

18. TP-CASTT • T-title: The meaning of the title without reference to the poem. • P-paraphrase: Put the poem, line by line, in your own words. DO NOT READ INTO THE POEM.Only read on surface level. • C-connotation: looking for deeper meaning. • Diction and symbolism • Imagery • Metaphors and similes • Rhyme scheme • End rhymes and internal rhymes • End stop • Enjambment • Alliteration • Assonance • Consonance • Mood • Allusions • Punctuation • Personification • A-attitude: Looking for the author’s tone. How is the writer speaking? • S-shifts: Looking for shifts in tone, action, and rhythm. Don’t just write the number. Discuss how the shift(s) affects the poem. • T-title: reevaluate the title as it pertains to the poem • T-theme: What does the poem mean? What is it saying? How does it relate to life?

19. Forms • Generally, the form of a poem involves the way it is visually arranged on the page. The number of stanzas, rhyme scheme, traditional pattern (if any), spacing, refrain, stanzaic breaks, and other such qualities can give important clues to the overall meaning of the poem. • Stanza: a group of lines set apart from the rest of the poem by white space above and below

21. Iambic Pentameter

22. Meters Iambic pentameter (Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus; Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sonnets) Dactylic hexameter (Homer, Illiad;Virgil, Aenead, Ovid, "The Metamorphoses") Iambic tetrameter (Alexander Pope; Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress") Iambic heptameter (Robert Louis Stevenson) Trochaic octameter (Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven") Anapestic tetrameter (Lewis Carroll, "The Hunting of the Snark"; Lord Byron, Don Juan) Trochaic tetrameter (many hymns)

23. Ballad: a narrative poem that is characterized by repetition and often by a repeated refrain (recurrent phrase or series of phrases). Ballads were originally meant to be sung. In its usual form, the ballad stanza consists of a quatrain with four beats in the first and third lines (iambic tetrameter) and three beats in the second and fourth which also rhyme (iambic trimester). Traditional ballad subjects include murder, love, revenge, shipwrecks, and the supernatural.