Literary Terms 4 Flashcards
Meter
The rhythmic pattern of verse. Formal rhythmic patterns are discussed in terms of feet. In describing the meter of a line, the foot is named and then the number of feet in the line, for example, iambic pentameter.
Foot
The combination of a stressed syllable with one or more unstressed syllables. In describing the meter of a line, the foot is named and then the number of feet in the line, for example, iambic pentameter.
Iambic
An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. E. g. “a-MA zing GRACE how SWEET the SOUND”
Anapestic
Two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. Less common variety of foot. E. g. “up the TREE down the HILL”
Trochaic
A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Mirror image of the Iamb. E. g. Longfellow’s “Song of Hiawatha”: “SHOULD you ASK me WHENCE these STOR-ies?”
Dactylic
An unstressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. Ironically, the word “PO-e-try” follows this foot pattern. E. g., Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade” begins “HALF a league, HALF a league”
Spondaic
A stressed syllable followed by an equally stressed syllable. Usually mixed with other kinds of metrical feet. E. g. Longfellow’s “Song of Hiawatha”: “BY the SHORE of GITchee GU-MEE / BY the SHI-ning BIG sea WA-TER”
Pyrrhic
An unstressed syllable followed by an equally unstressed syllable. E. g. Tennyson’s “In Memoriam of A. H. H.” alternates between pyrrics and spondees: “when the BLOOD CREEPS and the NERVES PRICK”
Names of meter in ascending order:
Monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter, and octameter.
Mimesis
The process by which art reflects and reinterprets the world around it. E. g. Consider the mimetic qualities Dickens employs in his creation of Scrooge, a penny-pinching old curmudgeon.
