Metre and Scansion

Question 1

Metre

Answer 1

is the disciplined rhythm of poetry.

Question 2

Feet

Answer 2

are the units of measurement within metre

Question 3

Scansion

Answer 3

is the analysis of metre. It is the action of ‘scanning’ a line of poetry in order to work out predominant rhythm and so the metre.

Question 4

Iambic metre

Answer 4

has an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Re-TURN. “But SOFT | what LIGHT | through YON | der WIN | dow BREAKS”. ~ Romeo and Juliet

Question 5

Trochaic Metre

Answer 5

contains a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. MOUN-tain. “BY the | SHORES of | GITche | GUmee”. ~The song of Hiawatha. by Longfellow

Question 6

Anapaestic Metre

Answer 6

contains two unstressed followed by one stressed syllable. hall-o-WEEN. “oh the YOUNG | Loch-in-VAR | he came OUT | of the WEST”. ~Lochinvar by sir Walter Scott

Question 7

Dactylic Metre

Answer 7

contains one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. HEAV-en-ly. “CAN-non to | RIGHT of them | CAN-non to | LEFT of them”. ~ The charge of the light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Question 8

Spondee

Answer 8

Occurs in iambic pentameter where the iambic foot contains two stressed syllables rather than one stressed followed by a stressed syllable.

Question 9

Pyrrhic

Answer 9

Occurs in iambic pentametre where the iambic foot contains two unstressed syllables rather than one unstressed followed by a stressed syllable.

Question 10

Hypermetric Foot

Answer 10

An extra unstressed syllable at the end of a line of iambic pentameter. “TO BE | or not | to BE | that IS | the QUES | tion”. ~ Hamlet

Question 11

Catalectic Foot

Answer 11

a syllable has been left out of a line” BRIGHT-est and | BEST are the | SONS of the | MORN-ing….”