Metrics/Scansion

Question 1

What is scansion?

Answer 1

Scansion is the act of “scanning” through lines of poetry and marking syllable division, length, and meter.

Question 2

What is dactylic hexameter?

Answer 2

Also known as “(the) epic meter” and “(the) Homeric meter”, dactylic hexameter is a poetic meter characterized by 6-foot lines and dactyls, feet which follow a long-short-short pattern. It was the traditional meter used for epic poetry, such as Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey”.