ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Literary Forms Videos 43 videos
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Books are meant to be enjoyed. Sure, authors have different motives for their works—some may want to start a revolution while others hope to deli...
Meter in Poetry 47831 Views
Share It!
Description:
Without meter, poetry is just... poetry without meter.
Transcript
- 00:07
Meter in Poetry, a la Shmoop. If we told you to watch for iambs<<eye-ams>>,
- 00:13
trochees<<tro-keys>>, spondees<<spahn-dees>>, anapests<<an-uh-pests>> and dactyls<<dack-tils>>...
- 00:17
...you might cover your head with your hands and run screaming for the nearest shelter...
- 00:22
...hoping against hope that none of them are hungry.
- 00:24
But, in fact, these "fantastic five" are nothing more than types of poetic "feet." And those
Full Transcript
- 00:30
feet? They help add rhythm and meter to a line of poetry.
- 00:34
Oh yeah... it's not just jazz musicians who need to lay down a funky beat.
- 00:39
Poetry is big on beauty, and ideas, and feelings, sure... but in many cases, it also relies
- 00:45
on meter to evoke a certain response from the reader.
- 00:51
During poetry's humble beginnings...
- 00:53
...meter was introduced not so much to make poems sing-songy...
- 00:58
...but to simply help remember the dang things. Which way is easier to remember what you need
- 01:06
to get at the grocery store?
- 01:08
A list like this?
- 01:10
Or a poem like this:
- 01:12
The milk is gone And yogurt, too
- 01:14
I need some Dawn And a new shampoo
- 01:15
We're low on rye The eggs are out
- 01:18
Could use some pie And sauerkraut.
- 01:20
Catchy, no?
- 01:22
And it's not just because the poem rhymes.
- 01:24
It's because there is a natural flow... a rhythm... to the words.
- 01:28
Let's take a look at a version of our shopping poem that is lacking in rhythm.
- 01:33
The milk is gone And somebody polished off the last of the
- 01:37
yogurt, too I need to get some Dawn
- 01:40
And shampoo We're running low on our rye
- 01:43
The eggs were eaten this morning and so they're just about out
- 01:46
Since we don't have any dessert on hand it would be nice to stock up on pie
- 01:51
And we should also probably get sauerkraut.
- 01:55
Still rhymes. But yikes. Probably not something you'd see come out of poet laureate.
- 02:01
Meter is absent in free verse poetry, but there is still rhythm.
- 02:05
Not every line needs to have a certain number of syllables...
- 02:08
...and you can switch up where you stress certain words...
- 02:11
...but even free verse makes you feel as if there is some kind of music infused into the
- 02:16
language. Try playing around with meter yourself, and
- 02:20
see what happens.
- 02:21
If all else fails, at least you won't run out of sauerkraut.
Related Videos
Books are meant to be enjoyed. Sure, authors have different motives for their works—some may want to start a revolution while others hope to deli...
Have you ever read a sestina in a cantina or a villanelle in your holding cell? The great thing is that... not every type of poetry needs to rhyme....
This video defines sonnets, a favorite of William Shakespeare. What are the different types of sonnet? How do you identify different kinds of sonne...